Survival in Numbers
by SwiftDragonfly
Summary: Hunted by a rich lunatic, Kasai must live a quiet life of peace and secrecy. After 4 years of being alone and unable to truly trust anyone, finds herself conflicted between safety and having friends. Natsuxoc
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Comment:** Just so you know, the beginning of the fanfic starts with the main character being 15 years old, only a year or two older the other main characters. I can't find a confirmed age for Natsu, (although I've read theories that he's up to 400 years old) so for the time being I'm going with the assumption that he's the same age as Gray. (at least for emotions/appearance sake) I also haven't read the manga, so I apologize if I'm wrong about some of the info in this story. I've only seen the anime (on Netflix, it only covers half of the first season), and I'm in the process of watching it a second time.

If you see anything that doesn't make sense in the story, let me know. I love feedback and suggestions, so please leave a review!

 **Second author's note:** This story was written several months before the other stories that I've been posting, so the quality might not be quite as good.

 **Summary:** Hunted by a rich lunatic, Kasai must live a quiet life of peace and secrecy. After 4 years of being alone and unable to truly trust anyone, finds herself conflicted between safety and having friends. Natsuxoc

 **Chapter 1** :

 _Humility_

-4 years ago-

"Would you guys like a muffin? I have enough for everyone here, if they'd like one." Kasai offered one evening, holding out a basket filled to the brim with blueberry muffins. A group of wizards standing by the bar looked up from their conversation, locking eyes with the young girl. They just stared for a moment, confused by her presence and not recognizing her. "I came here to meet Levy, but she doesn't appear to be here yet."

"What kind are they?" One of them asked, his face suddenly brightening up. He had short blue hair and a matching blue mustache.

"Blueberry."

"I'll take one, thanks!" He said, and the others joined in the enthusiasm. They all grabbed one of the muffins, thanked her, and watched her walk off to offer them to the rest of the wizards. "These are delicious. Strange girl, delicious food!"

"Who are you, my dear?" A very old, very short man asked the young girl when she reached him, and she smiled kindly.

"Kasai. I'm Levy's friend. Would you like a muffin?"

"Thank you, I'd love one!" He said jovially, and quickly snagged one of them. "You're welcome to return here anytime, given you bring more of these!"

"Oh, are you the owner here?"

"Yes, I'm the Guild Master. My name is Makarov."

"It's nice to meet you, Makarov." She said with a bow, but then her attention was diverted when she noticed two boys fighting in the middle of the room, their voices getting louder with each insult. One of them had fire beginning to appear on his fists, while the other was taking his clothes off. "Is that… fire on his hands?" She asked, a slight blush crossing her cheeks.

"Yes, he's a dragon slayer. He can control fire."

"A fire dragon slayer..." She whispered, watching him in awe as he fought the other boy, the fire becoming more and more wild.

The familiar sight caused her chest to squeeze tight, memories of her mother replaying in her mind.

1.

Kasai sighed tiredly, her belly rumbling uncomfortably as she walked down the street. Each step brought another stab of pain that wracked through her foot and into her ankle, each time making her wish that she had a place to rest (and better shoes). The pack on her back was getting heavier with each block, and she knew that she would have to stop being picky soon and just pick a random ally to sleep in for the night.

Her red hair was tied back in a short braid, only reaching a few inches past her neck. The clothes that hung loosely from her body were beginning to smell weird, and she knew that if she didn't find a way to clean them tomorrow, any future chance of finding a place to stay would be diminished greatly. She had been lucky to find strangers homes to sleep in a few nights this past week, but she knew from experience that people were less friendly to homeless people that smelled/looked weird.

If she smelled and looked like a normal girl, she could pass as a runaway or someone that 'got their wallet stolen' at the bus station. Kasai never lied to people when she asked for a place to sleep, but on occasion she would leave out details or hint at untrue scenarios to get more sympathy.

Having never been in a city before, she had yet to figure out how to make money. When she lived near monks, and interacted with them on a daily basis, they were so kind and courteous that there was no need for currency. The same applied with her village. You worked for your food, you helped your neighbors, and when you had extra you gave it to others.

There were a few shops open, but for the most part, everything was closed. It was well past midnight and she was beginning to see an increase in drunk people wandering the streets.

"Happy! Give me back my scarf!" She heard a voice laugh from behind her, and turned around just in time for a young boy run right into her. Their bodies bounced against each other and caused them to flail to the ground a few feet from each other, hitting the stones on the ground painfully.

"Are you alright?!" Kasai asked immediately, looking to the boy in the dim light.

"Aaaw man! Who did I run into at 2 in the morning!?" He asked loudly, his voice echoing in the eerily quiet street. He sat up, hand holding his head, and looked up at the surprised girl. "Sorry about that." The pink-haired boy said awkwardly, standing up and offering the girl his hand.

"It's okay. There's usually not many people out here this late." She replied, accepting his hand and standing up with his help. When she realized just who it was, she couldn't help but chuckle at the irony of his appearance.

"Oh, hey, you're that girl from earlier today, right? Muffin girl?"

"Muffin girl~!" A small blue cat cheered happily as he landed on the boy's head, scarf falling onto his shoulder.

"Yeah." She confirmed awkwardly, her belly rumbling loudly at the memory of the food. "Sorry."

"Nothing to apologize for! I'm getting hungry just thinking about them. What are you doing out here so late? It can be dangerous to wander the city alone."

"Oh? I haven't encountered any trouble so far." She admitted truthfully. "Although, I've only been here for a couple of weeks…. I'm Kasai, by the way."

"I'm Natsu, and this is Happy. It's nice to meet you." He said, and extended his hand again. She happily took it.

"It's nice to meet you, too."

Something about him, whether it was his resemblance to her mom or something else, made her feel like she was talking to an old friend. His hand, much warmer than the average person, felt comfortable against her equally warm hand.

"I should get going. You probably have somewhere to be. Good night, Natsu." She said softly, gave a slight bow, and began walking towards her earlier destination.

Natsu stood there for a moment, watching her walk away and a little confused by the abrupt departure. "Do you like her, Natsu?" Happy asked suddenly in his ear and causing him to jump.

"Gah! Don't talk in my ear so loudly."

"Do you like her?" He repeated, this time quieter and flying a couple feet away from him.

"I dunno… she smells kinda weird." He commented, his nose wrinkling up. "I'm hungry, let's go get some grub!"

2.

The next morning, she found herself drawn to a relatively secluded part of the beach. There were a few beer and soda cans lying about, meaning that it was likely a meeting place for late night parties, but at the moment it was quiet and peaceful.

She found a large boulder on the edge of the water and sat down, cross-legged, and rested her hands on her knees. The leather knapsack rested perfectly between her legs, relieving the weight from her shoulders yet safe from theft or falling into the water.

A calm breath left her mouth as she gazed out into the horizon, eyes locking onto a large ship sailing away into the rising sun.

The sudden memory of the blueberry muffins she gave away the day before caused her belly to rumble loudly, and frown tugging at the corners of her lips. She didn't regret giving the muffins away but her stomach did.

"Hey! What are you doing here?!" A deep voice yelled from behind her, and caused the woman's shoulders to briefly slouch.

Regaining her composure, she shifted in her spot to look behind her, smiling at the small group of 4 men. One of them was chugging the last of his beer, burped rather loudly, and threw it at a tree some 10 feet away.

"Isn't it a bit early to be drinking?" She asked, not expecting the man's face turn such a dark shade of red. His face scrunched up, his dark brown blood shot eyes locking onto hers, and hands balled up into fists. A vein began to appear on his forehead, pumping so prominently it threatened to burst at any moment.

They all reeked of alcohol. She could smell it even from her spot, several yards away on her rock. One of them seemed so disoriented that he needed to lean on a nearby tree.

"What did you just say… _girl_?" He asked, at first sounding insulted and furious, but suddenly changing to an expression she had rarely seen on men's faces. His eyes, looking her up and down, caused an uncomfortable chill to run down her spine.

"I've only recently moved to Magnolia, I didn't know this was private property. I'll leave." She stated calmly, reaching for her bag and standing up.

"Hold on, you don't need to go… anywhere. Come party with us." He said, staggering forward and reaching out to her.

"No thank you."

"Oh, come on." Another joined in, seeming a bit more sober than the other. "We can show you a good time."

"I think you guys should get some sleep. You look tired." She said, still smiling. When one of them got a little too close, she used the added height of the boulder to her advantage to leap onto his shoulder, her right foot landing square on his left shoulder, and continued to land on the other side of him.

As he fell, she continued walking forward, easily dodging the clumsy hands and bodies reaching for her.

"Have a nice nap." She said with a wave of her hand, not bothering to look back at the men that had fallen to the ground.

3.

"Hello, I'm Kasai." She said with an outstretched hand, grin stretching from ear to ear. The older woman smiled politely in kind.

"Maki. Can I help you miss?" Maki replied, looking tired as she sat on the wooden chair. She was sitting, Kasai was standing, in a small room attached to a diner, only separated by a closed door. The ragged woman had bags under her eyes, and her hair tied back into a braid with stray hairs going everywhere. Papers were strewn across the desk, books left haphazardly around the room with no shelves to sit on, and a picture of the woman and another man, presumably her husband, hung on the wall.

"I was wondering if you have any job openings here?"

"I'm sorry, I-" Just as she was answering, the door burst open with a thundering crash. A large burly man stepped into the room, looking to be in his mid 30's, and a large cigar in his mouth. He gingerly took the cigar from his mouth and ground the burning tip into the woman's desk.

"Where the hell is my stuff, you old hag?" He asked, getting so close to the old woman's face that their noses touched.

Her face, beat red, looked from his face, to the cigar damaging her desk, to the knife on his belt, and to his face again. "Y-you haven't paid r-r-r-rent in months. Y-you're rude to-" Before she could finish the sentence, he pulled the knife from his pocket, and rammed it into the wooden desk.

"Excuse me, sir, can you speak to her more politely? I don't think she appreciates the damage you're doing to her desk." The little red head, half the size of the knife-wielding man, asked politely from her spot.

"Who the hell do you think you are, telling me what to do?" He asked, just noticing her presence.

"Saki, get out of here, this has nothing to do with you."

"My name is Kasai, and it's no problem. My mother always taught me that when I see someone in trouble, that I should help them, especially if it's a woman being troubled by a man."

"I don't care if you're a girl," He said, plucking the knife from the table and turning towards her. "I'll kick your ass."

"I should warn you, if you try to harm me, I will defend myself." She stated, watching him closely yet remaining calm and ready to spring into action. A kind smile stayed attached to her face, unintentionally taunting him.

"Defend this!" He yelled, throwing a punch at her.

The back of her hand gracefully redirected his attack, leaving her scratch free yet leaving him unbalanced and vulnerable to attack. She pivoted, kneed him in the groin, and in the process grabbed the knife from his hand.

He groaned in pain, hands protectively holding his crotch, and on the verge of falling over. "I'll… I'll…" He tried to threaten, but gulped when the small girl held his knife to his throat.

"Please do not bother this woman again, unless you plan to be more civil." She warned, locking eyes with his frightened brown ones. Her smile was gone, and instead a serious glare replaced it. He nodded, as much as he could through the pain and having a knife at his throat. "Promise?"

"Y… yes. Yeah." He stuttered between grinding his teeth, and then high-tailed out of there as quickly as possible, stumbling with his hands still over his crotch.

Kasai turned back to the older woman, flipped the blade in her hand so that the handle was facing her, and held out the weapon to her. "You should hold on to this in case he comes back." The kind smile had returned.

"I think a position just opened up. When can you start?"

"Immediately. I take it that his apartment is up for rent?"

"I'm sorry, I've already got it rented out." She apologized, and then went on to describe the job and pay. Basically helping her get rent from people and being a body guard of sorts, but between those two things doing cleaning, serving, cooking, or anything else that she was told to do for less than minimum wage.

4.

Even though she knew she was being taken advantage of by the older woman, she couldn't help being happy as she wandered the streets again that night, full of tasty food for the first time in weeks. As she looked up at the starry night sky, she couldn't help but appreciate how beautiful and magnificent it looked.

"Kasai!" A familiar voice yelled down the street, and a warm feeling spread through her belly.

 _He recognized me. And he's happy to see me!_

"Natsu, how's it going?" She asked, beaming at the young dragon slayer.

"I'm doing good. I went fishing with Happy today and caught a HUGE fish!" He explained, stretching his arms out to each side as far as he could.

"Awesome!" She said with a giggle, and blushed when she noticed his cheeks burning red. "Where is Happy?"

"Oh, Lisanna is watching him tonight."

"Who is Lisanna?"

"She's a friend of mine. She's raising Happy with me. We're kind of like his parents." He said shyly and scratching the back of his head. "Do you want to see something cool?"

"Sure." She replied, and watched in awe as he shot fire out of his mouth like a flamethrower. "Wow, that's amazing!"

"If you think that's cool, watch this!" He said, and started showing her fire trick after trick, enjoying her expressions and reactions to them.

"You're amazing, Natsu."

"Yeah, you're right. I'm an S-ranked wizard at the Guild. That's the highest ranking you can get." He lied, continuing to show off as he jumped and kicked the air multiple times, causing flames to shoot out. Even though she knew the truth, after overhearing a conversation with him and an older girl the other day, she nodded and laughed as he continued boasting and having fun. "Hey, you should join the guild!" He stated suddenly, but then frowned. "But you don't know any magic…"

"It's okay. Can I still be your friend, though?" She asked, and he beamed at her.

"Of course! Will you come to the Guild tomorrow? Maybe bring more muffins?"

"I just got a job, and I work tomorrow…"

"Oh, that's okay! Don't worry about it, I know how it is…. Where do you live? Can I walk you home?"

Silently, she deliberated on whether to admit her living situation. Although she was fine being open with strangers over the past couple months, sharing that information suddenly seemed difficult. "I… uh… I'm between homes at the moment." She admitted awkwardly, her face heating up from embarrassment. "I only recently moved here, and haven't been able to get enough money for an apartment."

"Really? Is that why you've been wandering around alone at night?"

"Yeah…"

"What happened to your parents?"

"I never met my dad, and my mom died half a year ago."

"I'm sorry… I don't have any parents either." He admitted, his gaze now focused on the stars shining brightly above them. "I was lucky enough to find the Fairy Tale guild. They took me in… and they're like family to me." Natsu admitted, still not making eye contact with her. For the first time that night, he felt perfectly calm.

"I'm sorry about your parents."

"Do you want to stay at my place until you can afford your own? It's pretty small, and pretty messy, but you're welcome to stay there until you're back on your feet."

"I don't want to be an inconvenience."

"Nah, I would feel bad if I knew you were sleeping on the streets! You're my friend, after all." He stated, and grabbed her hand. "You could also use a shower!"

5.

That night, she slept better than she had in months. She was clean, full, hydrated, and best of all, safe. Even if she was sleeping on a mat, and his snoring was loud, it was comfier than an alley way and she didn't have to sleep with one eye open.

The house was small, like Natsu had said, but it was perfect for his needs. It consisted of a kitchen, bathroom, living room, and bedroom. A few of his belongings were strewn about, but for the most part it was empty. He had little to no furniture except a table and a few chairs.

Their mats were a few feet apart, and on occasion his arm or leg would reach out and accidentally nudge Kasai in her sleep. Each time it woke her up, but fell back to sleep once she realized the cause.

About a month later, after she got enough money, she managed to get her own apartment and move out. They didn't see each other very often after that, but she was still grateful for the help from such a kind stranger. On occasion she would visit the Guild Hall with some form of baked treat, and when he was there, he would beam and embrace her in a hug.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 _Control_

-Present-

"What was that?!" Several customers exclaimed in worry and rushed out of the bar, trying to see what all the commotion was about. Kasai, in charge of the bar, stayed behind but hoped someone would fill her in. The sound of explosions seemed to be coming from the direction of the Fairy Tale Guild, but she hoped she was wrong.

"It's Fairy Tale! They're being attacked!" Someone yelled from outside, and many gasps and awes were heard.

Kasai's eyes widened, but then her gaze lowered to the glass in her hands that she was cleaning. "They'll be fine…" She assured herself, looking back up at the door when the bells rang and a new customer came in. The street was filled with almost all of her customers, which made the new one an oddity. "Hello, welcome to the Sunflower." The person, covered completely in a dark cloak, removed his hood to reveal a scarred face with white hair. His eyes, steel blue, locked with hers and she immediately knew that he wouldn't be a normal customer.

"Miss Taiyo Mitski?" He asked, and the woman froze.

The glass dropped from her hands and shattered on the floor.

As soon as recognition flared in her eyes, he smirked, and she knew that her time in hiding was done.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Look," She spoke, putting her hands up. "If we have to fight, can we do it outside? I'd rather not mess up the bar. I don't make a lot of money, and it would be nice to-" Before she could finish talking, the mysterious man had pulled out a blade and lunged forward, aiming it at her head.

Easily, she deflected using a knife from behind the bar and caused it to stick into a wooden column behind her. It landed with a soft 'ka-thunk', and in hopes to derail further damage, she easily flicked the knife in her hand to cut the hand holding the sword and make him jump back in pain.

"I thought you just used fire magic," He growled angrily and holding his injured hand to his chest.

"It would be pretty stupid of me to use fire magic around hundreds of bottles of alcohol, don't you think?" She asked, adding a small giggle at the end. "Speaking of alcohol… would you like some for your wound? I have a first aid kit back here you can use." The red head offered, but wasn't surprised when he instead ran out of the shop as fast as he could.

As the bell rang, marking his exit, she sighed. The sword, still protruding dangerously next to her head, shined brightly against the dim lights on the ceiling.

"4 years was a pretty good run... I wonder how he found me?" She pondered quietly, and after checking for magical traps, removed the blade from the column with ease. The woman placed it with the other weapons occasional drunkards left behind, under the bar. Although the owner of the bar had told her on many occasions that she could keep some of the weapons (seeing as she confiscated more than half of them when they threatened customers/employees), and although she did keep a few at home, she liked having the variety of weapons within reach.

Another explosion erupted in the distance and caused the building to rumble.

"If Fairytale wasn't currently at war, I might join them now since my cover has been blown…."

1.

Two days later, Kasai stopped by the Fairytale construction site, offering muffins, sodas, and a pair of hands to help rebuild their Guild.

There was a lot of yelling at the site, along with a mix of productive and very unproductive people at work, trying to build a new and better Guild without the proper organization to follow through with it. Although there were a few people that knew what they were doing, such as the Guild Master, there were just as many obnoxious people that slowed the rest down (and caused more destruction), like Natsu.

"How are you guys doing?" Kasai asked Natsu, Lucy, Gray, and Erza while simultaneously offering them the food and beverage. "The food and drinks are complementary of the Sunflower Bar." She added.

"Sweet! Free food!" Natsu exclaimed, and grabbed a mouthful of muffins, only to be hit and chastised by Erza for his rudeness.

"Thanks, but I already have a free lunch. Someone made me sushi." Gray spoke, showing her the box of food.

"It looks delicious! Sushi is one of my favorite foods. Lucy, would you like a muffin?" She asked the blond, happy when she politely accepted.

"Actually, how did you know my name? I don't think we've met before."

"Oh, I'm sorry, that must have seemed weird. Natsu mentioned you a while back, and the way he described you it felt like we were friends already. I'm Kasai," She apologized, and reached her hand out to Lucy after setting the duffel bag of beverages on the ground.

"No worries, I didn't realize that you and Natsu were close friends." She replied, shaking hands with her.

"Well, I wouldn't say that we're _close_ friends. When I first moved here he really helped me out, and I made friends with a few other wizards here… every once in a while I stop by and catch up."

"Actually, now that I think about it, I remember hearing your name come up a few times. Since I couldn't put the name to a face, I kind of forgot about it…. Have you thought about becoming a wizard and joining Fairytale?"

"Not really. I'm happy being a bartender." She replied. "And believe me, I get enough danger in that job. I can't imagine the excitement that…" She trailed off, seeing a flash of metal in the corner of her eye, and suddenly instinct from 5 years ago kicked in. "Get down!" The red head exclaimed, and shoved the blond back just before a knife would have hit her head. Instead, it grazed her nose as it flew past, her hair flying forward and obscuring her vision.

Kasai leaned back in order to dodge a second one, but as she leaned back grabbed a soda can and chucked it at the assailant, hitting him square in the forehead.

He yelled out in pain, falling backwards, while another man snickered from his side, and another kicked him in the gut. "Get up, you idiot. The bounty we make off of her would have us rich for the rest of our lives."

"Hey!" Erza yelled at them, walking up to them clad in her armor and authorative stance. "What do you think you're doing, throwing knives at people? You could have hurt someone!"

"That's the point, idiot." One of them sneered, and the second one tossed a small pebble that exploded and trapped Erza in a water force field. She glared, and tried to force her way out of it with no success.

They ran past her in order to get to Kasai, but didn't get far.

Only a few feet past the trapped Erza, Kasai managed to grab their wrists, redirect their momentum at each other, and bang their heads together.

Once they fell to the ground, dizzy and disoriented, Erza's bubble dissipated. She turned to fight, but with the enemies on the ground, she could only look up at the seemingly innocent young girl standing between the unconscious bodies.

"I'm sorry about this, Erza. Are you okay?"

"Did you take out those two assassins on your own?"

"Judging by the fact that they used a nonlethal attack on you and mentioned a bounty on me, I'm guessing that they're just clumsy bounty hunters, not full-fledged assassins. Although, I should probably ask the one trying to crawl away…" She trailed off, noticing the original assailant trying to get away, despite the ginormous bump on his head.

Kasai gracefully walked over and swiftly kicked him, causing him to fall. Before he could turn around, she grabbed his wrist, and twisted his arm so that he was forced to his knees, and bent his hand in a painful position.

"You should explain yourself, unless you want a broken arm."

"We just wanted the bounty on your head."

"Bounty? Who the hell would want _Kasai_? She's practically a nun." Natsu suddenly asked, walking up to them. A few other wizards came closer to see what had happened as well, making Kasai uncomfortable by all the eyes and ears.

"We already called up Mr. Tanashimi and told him that we would catch you by the end of the day and collect the reward. He's going to kill us if we don't show up with you."

"Is the bounty for my life or death?" Kasai asked, applying more pressure to his arm.

"Either. Dead or alive. One million dollars." He answered, strained and beginning to shake from the pain. "Please let me go. I promise not to come after you again."

"You didn't answer _my_ question! What does this 'Tana' whatever want with Kasai?" Natsu yelled, getting in his face with a fiery fist.

"Tanashimi wants a girl named Taiyo Mitski… this crazy chick about to break my arm off!" He explained, and after a second of deliberation, Kasai released her grip and kicked him forward.

"Lucy, are you alright?" Kasai asked, not bothering to watch the kid run off and instead turning her attention to the celestial wizard. Erza added in a good kick to his side as he scrambled away, but otherwise didn't pursue him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just a scratch."

"It'll probably leave a scar. That means you're ugly now." Happy spoke, causing the blond to shoot him a glare and cross her arms. "Sorry… ugly- _er_."

"Way to cheer me up, you stupid cat." She replied with hostility.

"Nevermind that, the guy just tried to kill you!" Natsu yelled, getting Kasai's attention again. "Why didn't you tell us that you were in trouble?!"

"I've been in hiding for 4 years. I'm sorry for not telling you about it." She replied, bowing her head. "I'm also sorry for endangering you guys. I promise to keep my distance until I can sort this out."

"Kasai, I don't think you get it," Erza spoke, back in her construction site uniform. "You're our friend, Kasai, and those were wizards that just attacked you. If there's a bounty on your head, you're going to need help."

"If you're worried about paying us, don't. The hundred or so batches of free food you've been giving us over the years more than makes up for it." Gray spoke, suddenly stripped down to his boxers.

"Nice boxers, Gray."

"Damn it!" He yelled, getting instantly side tracked and freaking out.

Not sure how to respond, Kasai looked up at the sky, noticing a lone bird in the bright blue sky. "But you guys just fought a war… you're not exactly in a position to help me." She replied, looking back to Erza. "I heard that you're still recovering, too."

"Hey, Erza isn't the only one here for ya!" Natsu yelled, pumped and revealing his fists covered in flames. "I'm fired up to defeat whoever is coming after you!"

"Kasai," A new voice spoke, causing everyone to look up at her. Mirajane, sweet as ever, stood there politely with her hands linked behind her. "I hope you don't mind, but I overheard that you like bartending. If you'd like to join Fairytale as a part-time bartender, I'd be happy to have the help. That way you can officially have the protection of the Guild without having to be a wizard." She offered, and Kasai's face turned red, realizing just how amazing of an opportunity it was.

"Kasai as a member of Fairytale? That would be so awesome!" Natsu exclaimed happily, and suddenly grabbed the young girl in a hug and spinning around. "Woohoo!"

"Natsu, put her down, you're going to make her sick."

"Natsu has a girlfriend~!" Happy jested, causing Natsu to stop and yell at him, letting go of Kasai and make her sway a bit before regaining her balance.

"Of course we would have to clear it by the Guild Master, but since you're so popular here, I'm sure that it'll be fine." Mirajane continued. "I've also heard that you can handle yourself quite well, and even acted as body guards for some places?"

"Really? Maybe we should spar some time?" Erza asked, smiling down at the awkward girl.

"Sure. I miss sparring with people." She admitted, truthfully. It was the first time she had openly admitted to being capable of fighting, other than in self-defense situations, and she couldn't tell if the nervous feeling bubbling up inside she felt meant danger was near, or farther away than ever.

2.

"So, should we stay at my place or yours?" Natsu asked as he left the construction site with Kasai, his hands in his pockets and a delightful flying cat a few feet away. His scarf swayed with the breeze as it grazed them, causing the scent of a nearby bakery to reach them. The sun was beginning to set, meaning there was only an hour or less of natural light left.

"I, uh… what do you mean?" She replied, nervous apprehension in her voice, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Until we've taken care of this Tana guy, I'm not leaving your side. We all decided that we're going to take turns guarding you until this is all over. Why, what did you _think_ I meant?" He asked, a mischievous smirk tugging at his soft lips.

"You made it sound dirty, Natsu. She probably thought you were hitting on her." Happy answered for her, causing her to chuckle.

"Actually, I have to tell you something. You need to know before I decide whether or not to join Fairytale tomorrow." She stated, stopping in place and looking at him. When he realized that she had stopped, he did the same and turned towards her. They were on the side of a street that was slowly thinning out, stopped in front of a lit candle shop.

"Oh? Did you kill someone? Is that why you're running? Wait, are you a ninja?" He asked, stars appearing in his eyes. "Are you a samarai ninja with a dark past of killing people and on a road of redemption?"

She chuckled, watching him daydream and get caught up in his fantasies about why she might be on the run, and suddenly she felt significantly less nervous. "Do you like to spar?"

"… eh? Sparring, like fighting?" He clarified, and she nodded.

"If you're up for it, we can go to the beach… I know a spot that's great for practicing." She offered, a blush forming on her cheeks.

"Tonight?"

"Why not?" She asked, and then looked up at Happy. "Of course, you're welcome to join us."

3.

"I'll go easy on you, and not use my fire magic. Erza would be pissed if anything happened to you." Natsu told her, watching as the young girl stood a few yards from him, her long braided hair swaying slightly with the breeze. Her shoes and other belongings were on the sidelines, guarded by Happy. She had even taken her jacket off to reveal an interesting shirt he had never seen on her, which had an oddly similar color scheme and design as his pants. It was a simple, sleeveless black shirt with gold trimming, and was loose around her small form.

"I would prefer if you used your fire magic. It'll make this more… educational." She replied, butterflies beginning to fly around in her belly as she brought her hands together in a bow.

Awkwardly, Natsu did the same, watching curiously as she got in a fighting stance. He did the same, but lit his hands up with fire.

Just as he was about to run forward, he felt something pound painfully into his chest and cause him to fly backwards several yards, effectively knocking the wind out of him. As he fell he rolled on his back but managed to get his feet under him again, skidding several feet and kicking up sand.

"Sorry, I guess you weren't ready. We can start again." She apologized, hand awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck and toe twisting into the sand.

Natsu recovered quickly, but after a moment, a grin suddenly spread across his face. "You're a wizard, aren't you?" He asked, and she nodded. The red head walked over to him, a shy smile gracing her lips. When she was close enough, she stopped and leaned forward.

A thin tunnel of fire flew from her mouth and to his cheek, causing more confusion to riddle his head. "I'm sorry for not being able to tell you sooner, but I'm also a Dragonslayer. My mother was taught by a dragon, and when I was young she put Dragon Lacrima inside me and taught me what he had taught her."

He suddenly blew fire at her lips, and she breathed it in. "Did you have… chimichangas for dinner?"

"You guys are too far away! Tell me what's happening!" Happy yelled from the sidelines, watching as Natsu scooped up Kasai in his arms, much like earlier, and began spinning around happily while shooting out fire into the air and hollering loudly.

4.

Later that night, as they ate Chinese food and devoured several full meals worth, Natsu bombarded her with questions about her past and her fire dragon abilities. Not only had he finally found another dragonslayer of his element, someone to relate to and talk to about it, but she also wasn't an ass hole to him about it!

"Your mom sounds amazing. I can tell that she means a lot to you… so where is she now? Is she also in hiding?" Natsu asked, and caused his companion to frown at her food.

"She's dead." She answered quietly, and suddenly the room became eerily silent.

"I'm sorry. If it makes you feel any better, my dad left me."

"The dragon that trained you? Igneel?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry, Natsu."

5.

Natsu didn't sleep until 3 AM, so wound up by the day's events, and Kasai didn't sleep at all. Her eyes stayed locked on the ceiling, ears sensitive to all sounds, and mind racing.

 _If I stay, they're in danger._

 _If I leave, I'll hurt their feelings and be on the run for the rest of my life._

 _Lucy was almost killed today, and judging by Natsu's fighting abilities… he may be a strong fighter, but he doesn't know how to be stealthy or discreet. He could –will- get hurt._

 _If I face the man that killed my mother… I could end up betraying the teachings of the monks, and kill him. Although they taught me that violence as a means of protection is encouraged, killing or hurting someone when there is a better peaceful solution is bad._

Heated skin brushed against hers, and she could have sworn she felt sparks.

Natsu, still fast asleep, cuddled up to her. His arm wrapped around her midsection, legs sandwiched her right leg, and his face snuggled into the side of her chest, just above her breast. Without thinking, she responded by wrapping her arms around him, and simultaneously making a decision.

 _Okay, I'll stay._

Her face was blushing, heat spreading through her cheeks and blood pumping loudly in her ears. _This feels so… natural._ She thought calmly, and quickly soothed her nerves. Her eyes closed.

Within minutes, she was sound asleep.

6.

"Hee hee hee," A blue cat snickered, followed by a few clicks.

At the sound, Kasai creaked open one of her eyes to look for the source, finding a camera being pointed at her. "Happy… what are you doing?"

"Nothing!" He replied, continuing to take pictures of them.

Since Natsu wasn't using the pillow on his mat, Kasai (careful not to wake Natsu up) grabbed his pillow, and threw it at the feline. He fell back with a yell and the camera suddenly landed on her free foot. She launched it at her free hand, caught it, and turned it off before tucking it away in a nightstand drawer.

"Meanie!" Happy said, sticking his tongue out at her and pulling his eyelid down. She responded by putting her index finger to her lips, indicating for him to be silent, and then pointed at the sleeping man cuddled up to her. "Pfft, he's supposed to be up anyway. It's almost 9, and it's not my fault that you guys stayed up so late."

At the sound, Natsu snuggled into her even more. "Happy, let me sleep. It's not like I have anything to do today."

"What about the construction site?"

"They're probably happy I'm not there to slow them down…. I'll just say that I overslept at Kasai's place."

"How does that any more of an excuse than oversleeping here?"

"Because shut up." He responded, and then lifted his head a little to look at Kasai with half open lids. "Are you comfortable, Kasai? I can move if I'm not… or if you want to get up or something."

"I'm comfy, but suspect Happy won't let you sleep." She replied, blush returning to her cheeks at his gaze. He didn't even notice, resting his head against her and cuddling up to her once more.

"Darn straight! Natsu, you can't just neglect your responsibilities! You need to feed me!"

"You have food on the counter." He waved, and then pulled the blanket higher over them to cover his face.

"No we don't, we're out!"

"Happpyyyy…" He groaned, and after a moment, sighed and looked up at the girl in his arms. Their brown eyes met, sparkling against the light from the open window. "Good morning." He greeted, grinning with pink hair wild and out of place, just like hers. His eyes, unusually sparkly and golden brown, looked up at her with a softness she hadn't seen before.

"Good morning. How did you sleep?"

"Great… until-"

"Natsuuuu, breakfast!" The cat whined, and then hopped over and landed on Kasai's stomach.

"I bought you an entire bag of cat food yesterday, Happy. And I know that you didn't eat the entire thing in half a day."

"That was a week ago!"

"Uuuugh, fine, hairball, I'm up. I'll make a fresh breakfast for everyone, how's that?" He asked, and Happy cheered and jumped off as Natsu reluctantly removed himself from the warm girl he had been attached to for most of the night. "Do you like eggs and bacon?"

"Love it." She replied with a smile, and happily accepted the hand extended to her.

1.

"Mirajane," Kasai greeted the next day, walking up to the beautiful girl with a nervous smile. She had a drawing in her hand, and since they looked like terrible schematics for the building, the red head decided to not say anything about them.

"Oh, Kasai! I talked to the Guild Master, and he's agreed to interview you for the job. I think it's just a formality, though; as soon as the Guild is finished construction, you'll have the job." Mirajane told her, and Kasai couldn't help but smile wider.

"That's great. When is the interview?"

"Right now!" The Guild Master boomed from above, still in his giant form and towering above them with a huge piece of wood. "Just give me a minute to attach this beam."

"Take your time." Kasai replied politely, watching him walk over to a part of the new building and attach it. "Any advice?" The red head asked the girl, but found that she was already gone. Mirajane had apparently gotten distracted with another aspect of construction, arguing with someone about her designs for the new building. 'Hopefully Natsu keeps quiet about me until I have a chance to tell the Guild Master…' she thought solemnly and nervous about talking to the great wizard. As she got lost in her thoughts, she was brought back to the present when the old wizard was poking her side.

"Day dreaming, are we?" He asked, looking at her with seemingly cheerful eyes. A certain scrutiny was hidden in his eyes, looking at her for any malice or sign of ill intentions.

"I suppose. Where would you like to do the interview?"

"Let's get lunch at the little bakery down the street. I love their donuts."

2.

"I have a confession, Makarov." She started speaking after setting her coffee down. The short Guildmaster, sitting across from her at the little round table, continued chewing on his donuts. "In order to hide all of these years, I have had to hide my wizard abilities as well."

"You're a wizard, eh?" He asked, tilting his head slightly, and then smiled. "I thought that might be the case. Not many people are so comfortable around such rowdy wizards. Especially Natsu, the worst of the bunch."

"My mother's name was Maki Kitski." She stated, and the old man visibly stiffened. "You've heard of her."

"I met her several years ago… she was a fiery young woman. Very beautiful. The only other fire Dragonslayer other than Natsu that I've ever met. She was very powerful… I would have never guessed that you were related."

"She was murdered, and the man that had her killed has been hunting me down for the past 4 years. The first of his men found me a few weeks ago at my work, and the second at the construction site yesterday. I'm sorry for that, by the way. I thought I would have more time before-"

"There's no need to apologize. No one was hurt. If I recall, this position I'm interviewing you for was for the bartending position, not for a wizarding position." He corrected, watching her look down at her coffee and nod.

"True." She looked back up, confidence regained. "Mirajane suggested I ask for the bartending position so that I would be protected against a man trying to kill me. I didn't want to take a bartending position without telling you all the facts." She stated. "I've been a bartender for the past 3 years; my other experience includes body guard, cleaning, register, administrative, and a variety of other jobs."

"It sounds like you'll be a great addition to my Guild." The old man said with a wide grin, and the girl reciprocated before going back to her meal.

3.

She couldn't help but smile and be happy through closing that night at the bar, thinking about working at the Fairy Tale guild with her long time friends. Mirajane said it might be another month or so until she could start working there, which gave her plenty of time to tie up loose ends with her current job.

Kasai was happy at her current job at the Sunflower; the pay was good, her boss was nice, and the customers weren't bad. She could wear pretty much whatever she wanted, so long as it didn't get in the way of her job, and since she was so calm and easy going most customers came back for her company and advice. There were a lot of female customers that actually requested her, and would pay her extra to walk them home after closing or when her shift ended. People felt safe to drink and let loose, which created a fun and safe atmosphere.

Currently, she wore simple black slacks and a button down purple shirt that matched the décor. Her hair was pulled back in a French braid. It had been a quiet night, so when she started closing shop, she was alone.

She wondered if she would be able to continue working here after her job started at Fairy Tale.

It only took twenty minutes to close, and as she gathered her belongings to leave, a knock came from the front door. "We're closed." She yelled from the back room.

Another knock, louder. Impatient.

The red head pulled her long jacket on and walked back to the main room, purse in hand, to find a familiar face with hands cupped over his eyes peeked through the locked door. A giggly smile appeared on her face, and similar one appeared on his.

She hurried to open it, greeting Natsu with a hug. "Natsu, what are you doing here?"

"I'm going to protect you, remember?" He said, grinning and taking an awkward step back. She reached over to the side of the door, turning the lights off, and stepped out the door with keys in hand. After closing, she turned back to him and linked arms.

"Of course. Your house again?"

"Sure, if you want. I got Happy more cat food, so he shouldn't wake us up early like this morning." He said, and she laughed at the memory.

"He apparently took pictures of us sleeping. You have a weird cat."

"Well that explains a lot…" He grumbled, suddenly glaring at the ground and steaming.

She was surprised by the hostile reaction, but ignored it and kept walking. She moved their arms so that they were no longer linked, but holding hands.

"How was work tonight?" He asked, looking up at her.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 _One of Those Weeks…_

Although the original arrangement was that different wizards would be guarding her each night, somehow Natsu was the only one that was doing the guarding. Kasai had thought about asking him about it, but thought better of it and just accepted the 'help'.

He never tried anything sneaky, nor did anything inappropriate. They would talk, cuddle on occasion, and spend a lot of time together; but they never crossed any lines. In a way, both of them were scared to become anything more than friends; at the same time, they were perfectly happy the way they were and didn't care about moving their friendship in a sexual direction.

They simply loved each other's company, even though their personalities were polar opposites at times. Ultimately, even though they were both capable fighters, they felt comfortable being vulnerable in each other's arms.

So when Natsu came home from his vacation/battle at the Tower of Heaven to find her body twisted and bloody on the floor, his heart sunk. His body froze.

For the first time in his life, he felt truly cold.

The breath left his body.

"K… K-Kasai?"

1.

-3 days earlier-

"Ooooooh, my gosh, girl, you, like… I love your shoes." The young blond spoke, right before she puked all over the bartender's shoes.

"… Thanks." Kasai replied, frowning as she held the girl up by the waist. The girl, named Suzie, had one arm hanging around the red head and other was clutching her stomach as she wretched the contents from her stomach. Kasai had, to the girl's later gratefulness, insisted on her tying back her hair in case this happened.

Even though she had tried to guide the girl's puke elsewhere, she seemed dead set on getting her shoes. Luckily the shoes were actually very used, and she was thinking about getting rid of them soon anyway. Maybe it was a sign that she should get some new shoes for the first time in two years.

"Oh, Suzie, that's so gross. You're going to make me-" Hurl was the next word she was going to say, and this time it was on Kasai's back, completely soaking her entire backside with vomit. Not only was her hair and shirt covered, but now her brand new pants.

" _Seriously_? I'm billing you guys extra for this."

Another hurl. This time it was the last girl, who managed to get Kasai's entire right leg. (along with the girl hanging off of her)

"Why, God?" She asked quietly, looking up at the night sky and taking a deep breath to calm herself down. The stench of vomit made her own stomach squirm uncomfortably.

2.

When she got home, there was a notice on the door.

'Electricity down- sorry for the inconvenience.'

Annoyed, but still thinking about the horrid smell emanating from her, (like Natsu, she had heightened senses) she grabbed a hose off to the side of her door and began hosing herself off on the grassy area. The only good thing about this situation was that she wouldn't feel cold, given her power over fire.

The neighbor's dog started barking, causing her neighbor to wake up and see her hosing off on the lawn at midnight. The full moon and stars made her completely visible, despite the lack of light from the off porch light. The old man came to the window with a lit candle stick, and opened the window so that he could speak to her. "Kasai, is that you?" He asked, small white hairs sticking out in all direction on his head and small beady eyes squinting at her. His free hand gently toggled his thick glasses to get a better look at her.

"Yeah, Mr. Finkleton… it's a long story."

"What did you do? Fall in a mud puddle?"

"I walked some girls home from the bar, and they puked all over me."

He shook his head. "I told ya, a bar is no respectable place for a woman to work."

"Are you saying being puked on is more of a man's job?"

"… Try not to get frost bite." He said, and then closed his window, telling his dog to 'shut up' as he went back to bed.

The red head sighed, grumbled, and tried to stay positive.

3.

"You're late! You were supposed to be here 2 hours ago!" Her boss yelled, red faced and wreaking of alcohol. "And I had to fire Sophia, who kept spilling the goddamn drinks on me! I've been on my own running this place during rush hour!"

"First of all, boss, you may want to lower your voice a little. Second, my shift isn't supposed to start for another 10 minutes."

"Tammy had a doctor's appointment and you were supposed to cover her shift. She said she talked to you two days ago."

"No, she didn't, and Tammy's version of two days ago is at 'at the very last possible moment'. The electricity is out in my building. She probably called last night and left a message that I couldn't get because my power was out."

"She said that she confirmed it with you."

"Well, she didn't. I'm sorry that you're stressed out, but I'm not the one you should be taking it out on." Kasai replied, and mentally groaned as she knew that he was going to be crabby for the rest of the day and make her cover not only Tammy's shift, but Sophia, and whoever else he chooses to fire because he's in a bad mood.

4.

That night, her shift didn't end until well past midnight. They had to count everything in the bar, as well as make sure everything was perfectly clean and tidy. Make sure all of the gum was scraped off the bottom of the tables. Count the glasses. Count the bottles. Count the _potato chips_.

She wished that Natsu had been there to walk her home afterwards. The happy, go-lucky wizard knew how to make all her troubles seemingly disappear. He knew how to make her smile, laugh, and feel like she belonged.

He was gone on vacation, which she was happy that he was going, but couldn't help but be a little jealous. Sunbathing on the beach with the handsome man while sipping martinis sounded fantastic right then.

However, she was so caught up in the day dream, that she didn't hear the car behind her. The automobile honked, and she moved out of the way just in time, but inevitably tripped over a cobblestone and fell…

5.

The dog barked again.

She'd already rinsed herself off with the hose, but was now so tired she just stood in front of her door for a moment, lamenting the irony with her eyes closed and head titled at the roof. Her arm ached from the earlier impact, and she took a deep breath as she felt the pain spread through her shoulder, to her forearm, and disappear into her wrist.

"Kasai, is that you?"

"Yep."

"You look wet. Did those girls puke on you again?"

"Nope. I fell in a mud puddle."

"Huh."

"Yup."

"A mud puddle?"

"Yep."

"… a mud puddle, eh?"

"Car almost hit me, and I fell in a mud puddle. Good night, Mr. Finkleton."

"A mud puddle?" He asked again, but she was already stepping into her apartment.

1.

Once she had changed into pajamas after a nice long shower, she noticed an unusual piece of paper on the kitchen counter.

She hadn't seen it when she came in.

The small piece of tape she always put on the door frame, to indicate an intruder, had been broken.

She froze. She could smell their scent, but it was faint, as if they simply stepped in and then immediately left.

Her eyes went back to the piece of paper.

' _Taiyo Kitski_ ' was scrawled along it in fancy writing.

She looked around the apartment, eyeing her furniture and any place that the intruder could be hiding. The tape on the closet was still sealed, so he wasn't in there. She would have heard him if he had gone anywhere near the bathroom. Otherwise, there wasn't any worthwhile hiding places.

Her hand nimbly grabbed a knife from next to the sink, and carefully, flipped over the piece of paper.

Her heart stopped. She stopped breathing.

It was a picture of Natsu, trapped in a cage unconscious and chained, dangling above a pool of water. In the same handwriting, _'Want your bf back? Meet us at the ghost shipyard, 3 AM. Bring friends or come late, and we'll kill him._

"Natsu…" She whispered, her grip loosening on the knife, and then suddenly tightening with all of her strength. "Natsu." She ground her teeth together, and the stabbed the knife down into the picture, damaging the countertop in the process.

Natsu's unconscious face loomed at her.

"I will get you back, Natsu. Don't worry."

2.

Hidden among the trees surrounding the meeting spot, Kasai couldn't help but regret not training properly for the past 4 years. She felt rusty, regardless of the magic studying she had been doing in its place.

She had learned how to meditate when she was young, and luckily the practice hadn't completely disappeared from her memory. Her body was relaxed against the tree, her legs criss-crossed, and breaths easily flowing in and out of her body. Her muscles were relaxed, yet ready to spring into action should they need to. Deadly weapons were hidden throughout her body, a mix of traditional and magical items hidden from sight.

To blend into the night, she was wearing all black with a little bit of green in places. Her sleeves were long, hiding her hands from the views of her future opponents.

Natsu's arms were above him, cuffed to chains making him dangle there like a piece of bait. The cage itself was being suspended with a crane.

There was a very, very large and muscular man standing near him on the dock, wearing no shirt but tons of tattoos. He had the stereotypical scars running down his face, snarl curling his lip, and he looked like a bull waiting for a target to run at.

He was the decoy.

The real opponents were hidden within the area, totaling to 3 that she could find, other than the bull guy. Obviously, this was a trap.

Natsu was still unconscious.

20 minutes until showdown.

She pulled out little clay balls from her pouch, breathed into them, and put her other hand over them while whispering a chant. After a moment, they began skittering away and dispersing into the night.

Then, she waited, going back into a meditative state.

3.

"Tch, it's about time you showed up, little girl." The bull guy announced, glaring at the girl as she approached from shore. "I was getting tired of waiting, thought about dropping this guy and going home."

"I'm sorry. If you wanted me to get here sooner, you should have set the time for earlier than 3. I was surprised you made it so late." She replied, acting as innocent as possible. "Would you mind releasing my friend? Obviously, you got my attention, and there's no reason for keeping him."

"Come with us quietly and we'll let your friend go. No need to spill blood here." He offered. "Although, if you don't accept the terms, I understand. I've heard that you're a strong fighter." A cocky smirk pulled at his snarled lips. "I love a good fight."

"I'll do whatever it takes to free my friend. Since you've probably been watching me for several weeks, you know that he's a dear friend of mine." She replied, expecting his uneasy expression. "Of course, before if I do hand myself over, it would be nice if you put him on shore. You don't have to release the chains."

"All right." He replied, causing her to raise her eyebrows in surprise, not expecting that. "But then you come with us. No fuss."

He made a gesture to whoever was in control of the crane, and they moved the cage to shore. Once the cage hit the grassy ground, she returned her attention to her enemy. "Who are you?"

"The Deadly 5 Assassins." He stated, pulling out a long blade from behind his back, and then pointing it at her. "In order to avoid conflict with the Fairy Tale Guild, we were never going to hurt the kid. We just wanted to get you here."

"Assassins? So you plan to kill me?" She asked, frowning. In her peripheral vision, she saw the other two wizards aiming something at her.

She snapped her fingers.

The small bugs exploded on their skin, causing them to yell out in pain as blood splattered everywhere and pain coursed through them. They each had a bug on their legs, sides, and wrists- just enough immobilize them. It wasn't enough force to dismember any of them, but they would need hospitalization.

In the confusion, she ran towards Natsu.

She used a blade the monks gave her to cut open the bars and free him. The pink haired man was still sleeping, and his breathing was normal, so she wasn't too worried about his health. She slashed at the chains, causing his body to fall.

Her arm wrapped around his upper back and her other looped under his knees. Carefully, gently, she pulled him towards her chest.

It was lighter than she remembered.

Colder.

She raised her temperature slightly, and extended her legs into a stand. With one last look at the crying assassins nearby, noting that they were just as severely injured as she planned, her legs began moving beneath her. Gaining momentum, she sped into a run, and then into a sprint for her home.

4.

Natsu lay sleeping on her couch for over an hour. The other red head watched him from across the room, still clad in her weaponry, and contemplating the night.

It felt too… easy. But she also wondered if she was just underestimating her abilities.

The small apartment was plain, and not very decorated. There was a table, to eat. A couch, to sit/sleep on. A few chairs here and there. A clock on the wall, ticking away half past 5 AM. The scent of lavender rose from several candles around the house, and were the only sources of light, given the continued power issues.

There was a red blanket draped over the unconscious boy. "Ka… Kasai…" He whispered, his voice cracking at the end.

Immediately, she was by his side, reaching for his hand. "Natsu, how do you feel?" She asked, reaching for his forehead.

It felt clammy and cold.

"You feel sick." She commented, and he chuckled. "What?"

The hand she held moved suddenly, grabbing her wrist and pushing her down. His entire body pushed her to the ground, crashing on top of her, and she felt a strange rope like substance wrap around her wrists and ankles. She struggled briefly, and let out a strangled yelp and cry as a knife penetrated her abdomen. "You're wanted dead… or alive. Guess which one we're going to deliver you as?" Natsu, or someone that looked like him, asked her. Part of his face was peeling off, revealing a crazed and very pale creature beneath.

He removed the blade, looking at her eyes, and traced the blade across her heated shirt, above her breast. The fabric began to tear, revealing the skin beneath.

She took a deep breath, and as he stabbed into her again, she flew out the hottest fire she could muster, causing him to fall to the floor writhing in pain and screaming as the torched flesh burned.

Using a blade tied to her forearm, she cut the binds, stood and cast her own binding spell using rope from her pocket.

Then she ran for the door, ducking as she opened it, and punched the bull man standing there with all her might, using the fire spouting from her elbow to get her more force. Her fist collided with his gut, causing the wind to escape his lungs, and cause his large body to fly backwards and break the fence.

She pivoted and turned out of the way just in time to dodge a blade from the Natsu imposter, and then started running.

She leapt to the roof of a nearby building and continued running, casting a spell with her hands over her injuries. It would slowly convert magic into healing energy.

Unfortunately, while she was dodging blades and leaping over alleyways, there was little she could do about the pain. Her breathing was labored, head beginning to get light headed, and the knowledge that luck would need to be on her side tonight wasn't very comforting.

'Luck' hadn't exactly been her friend the past few days.

Once she reached her destination, the Fairy Tale Guild construction site (although it was close to completion), she hid behind a half done wall and waited for her enemies to catch up to her. The shadows of the night kept her hidden, and would work to her advantage.

No one should be showing up to work for another few hours, at least, since it's winter and the sun won't rise until then.

"Come on out, little fire bitch. Do you really think you can beat us? Together, we have a hundred grand on our heads, and wanted all over the country. I've killed more little girls than I can count. You'll just be one more on that list." All that was left of Natsu's clothes were the pants, as he had discarded the vest and scarf. They were covered in black gooy liquid, presumeably the burned skin dripping from his sizzling face.

He had patches of white flesh still attached to his skin like patches of tissue paper. His blood pumping caused the veins pop from under his scaly flesh, given him a truly demonic appearance.

Blending with the shadows, it was easy for Kasai to mix with the various shapes and objects littered around the construction site.

"Come on, I just want to fight." The bull man stated as he smashed one hand into the palm of another. His eyes, bright red and glittering against the stars and moon, stared into the darkness. His skin, not quite as dark as the other man's, was an ashen gray devoid of color. Whether he was actually human or not, she had no idea. He snorted, "This is boring." Just as he was saying that, a shovel flew at his face, knocking him back but causing his companion to run after the source.

"I just want you dead!" The scorched and distorted the demon screamed as he launched forward, claws extending towards her.

As he slashed her, red liquid spurted everywhere, and landed mostly on him.

For a second, a crazed smile was stretched across his grotesque face.

But it wasn't normal blood.

The grin disappeared.

"What?!" He gasped, suddenly falling into a fit of convulsions and seizures.

"Dan?" The bull man asked, looking over at his companion on the ground. He made no move to help him, but instead chuckled. "That was impressive. If this were a more ideal situation, I would love fighting you. I believe I'm the only one left."

Magic and energy stealing binds slithered over to 'Dan', and bound his wrists and feet. His convulsions continued for some time, slowly dimming in intensity.

"You've lost a lot of blood. I can smell it all around me. You've been moving quickly." He spoke, calmly standing there with his arms crossed. "Come at me, bitch."

He swayed, slightly. Shook his head.

His vision blurred slightly. He shook his head again.

"I already have." Kasai spoke, emerging from the shadows with her hand clutching her stomach. "That blood you've been smelling? That's been me stealing your magic and converting it to healing energy." She chuckled, watching his expression turn from shock to anger.

He took a step towards her, but a dramatic drain his power caused him to stumble forward into his knee, never losing eye contact with her.

"Don't worry, it won't kill you. And your friends aren't dead either. I just want to live in peace."

"He'll never stop hunting you, and he'll just send more." He spoke, breathing becoming labored. "You'll… you'll have to kill him."

"For his sake, I hope you're wrong. Good night."

She stole the last of his energy, and using the energy from his body converted it into restraints. 'I never thought I would have to use blood magic again… especially not in this capacity.'

Blood magic, a type of magic she stumbled across in an ancient textbook within the monks library, is a kind of back-up magic. It's an extremely rare magic form because of its impracticality in everyday fighting situations. It takes spilled blood of the magic user and manipulates it just like any other element. When it's used to suck the magic out of another user, like an energy sponge, it requires no more magic for user in order to control it. It can be turned into solid objects, like restraints, or dummies for enemies to attack, like she used on Dan. In his case, she combined it with a potion that induces seizures for up to several hours.

Unfortunately, she had been lying about using the bull man's energy to heal her wounds. Blood magic doesn't quite get that cool.

Using the blood filled with her enemy's magic, so that she didn't have to use her own, she dragged them together and tied them further with another piece of heavy rope in the area. She found stick notes on a random table, along with a few pens, and wrote a note.

"Sorry for the mess. These guys said they're worth $100,000 to authorities. Hopefully that should cover any damages?

-Kasai "

She paused, resting against the table for a moment and taking shallow breaths.

"I… I guess luck was on my side." She joked stupidly, laughing and causing the injuries to hurt even worse.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 _Bring Me To Life_

"Kasai!" Natsu screamed at her, causing her to wake up.

Her eyes opened. Blinked.

Water was dripping on her face. Something warm was wrapped around her.

The water tasted like salt.

"Natsu…?" She whispered, and then with what little energy she had left, shot out a small amount of fire at his cheek. He smiled, doing the same, but then wiping his face with his sleeve.

"Kasai, what happened!?" Happy asked, and Natsu punched Kasai in the shoulder, causing her to scream out in pain.

"You scared the hell out of me!"

"Goddamnit Natsu, that hurt! I was stabbed! Twice! And I'm so low on energy that…" She yelled, and then trailed off as she passed out again.

"Hey! Hey! Who hurt you!? I'm going to go kill them! Kasai? Kasai!?" He yelled frantically while shaking her wildly, and Happy tried to yell louder and make him stop. "Wake up damn it!" He yelled, finally blowing a column of fire of her face.

Her eyes opened.

He was gripping her arms, faces only inches apart, and they were both keenly aware of each other's breaths brushing against the other's lips.

She blinked.

He blinked.

He spit fire at her again.

She breathed it in.

"I'm using magic to heal my injuries." She whispered. "Fire-" Before she could continued her sentence, he was blowing more fire into her mouth, causing a roaring fire to burn in her belly and convert into magic.

After a moment he stopped, and she couldn't help but smile.

She reached an arm up, brought his face down to hers, and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. After they separated, she passed out again, this time being held closer in his arms.

"What just happened?" Happy asked, suddenly confused at why his master was suddenly so quiet.

2.

"This is the ass hole that hurt Kasai!? I'm going to kill him!" Natsu yelled, running up to a random guy at the Guild, ready to punch him with an enflamed fist.

"Natsu, calm down. They've already been taken to the station." Erza spoke, wondering if she was going to have to restrain him. Natsu dropped the guy, letting him scamper away in fear. "That was a paying customer you just threatened, Natsu."

"Where is the police station!?" He asked, looking back and forth down the street, only to have Erza grab his shoulder and force him to face her.

"Natsu, knock it off. You can't just blow up the police station-"

"Why the hell not!?" He yelled back, legitimately beginning an argument about why he should be allowed to blow up the police station.

The fellow guild members watched from the sidelines, taking bets on what Natsu would end up destroying today.

1.

She woke up.

Dark. Alone.

The floor was cold. Hard. Only luke warm from her injury pouring warm blood onto the floor.

Time had passed. She thought that she had just blinked, but there was now light pouring through the cracks of the living room curtains. The green fabric glowed from the sunlight behind it, causing a halo effect around the square shape and for the mostly white apartment to look green.

She had dreamed it. Natsu finding her and being mad at the people that harmed her.

She pondered the thought of Natsu fighting for her, and if it would really happen, or if she was just that delusional from the blood loss.

It was a nice thought. Someone fighting for her, instead of the other way around.

Her eyes drooped from the glowing angelic window to the blood puddle pooling around her eye.

"Natsu fantasies can wait." She told herself, and with effort, removed the spells currently 'healing' her wounds. She needed that magic to move and fix herself; not have the life sucked out of her, waiting for a guy she liked to come save her.

Although, in the future, she might use that trick. Eating Natsu's Fire in order to cure her.

The idea of kissing also sounded nice. Really nice.

" _Focus."_ She growled, and gathered every last ounce of strength to stand. "You will live to fight and protect him. You will _train_. You will _fight_." Her hand gripped the table top. "Today is not the day for you to die."

2.

She called in sick to work that night. The power was working again.

The manager was upset, but Kasai was too weak to argue or explain herself.

She just went back to sleep.

Dreaming of fire. Dreaming of flying.

Dreaming of not stitching her wounds and getting blood everywhere in the process.

Dreaming of not drinking 151 proof rum between cleaning her wounds.

Dreaming, most likely, of Natsu.

3.

5 days later, the Guild was complete. She was able to start working at the bar, though at lower strength than usual. Considering that she always purposefully tried to appear slightly weak and uncoordinated around them, no one really noticed the difference.

Another two days after that, and Natsu and his team were back. She wasn't working at the bar, to her luck, but she was visiting with Levy and hanging out at the pool with her. They were studying magic textbooks that the brunette had recently bought in another town. While they were amid studying it, Natsu and his team appeared in the doorway.

They happened to lock eyes at the same time, albeit he looked like he was about to vomit. Kasai waved, and he waved back, but with less vigor. His friends geared him somewhere else, probably giving him a tour of the new guild.

"So that's what is different about you today." Levy spoke, getting the other female's attention. She was laying on her stomach, her feet facing the 'head' of the lounge chair and book between her elbows; Kasai, meanwhile, was sitting upright with her back against the chair, legs folded and book resting in her lap.

The red-head looked down at her confused. "What do you mean?"

"You like Natsu, and you've been worried about him." She stated, smiling at her. "It's alright, I understand. We were all worried… and he is pretty cute."

Kasai blushed, looking back down at her book.

"I also know that you two have been spending a lot of time together." She added, watching her friend fidget with the pages of the book.

"He and I have a lot in common." She said, and looked back up at her friend. "Do you think I have a chance with him?"

"Honestly? If you would take my offer and become a wizard, I think you'd have a better chance with him. You could work with my team, and we could set you guys up somehow."

"I appreciate the offer, Levy." She said, but the brunette already knew what she was going to say next.

"I know, it's not your thing." She finished, not a hint of malice in her voice. "Are competitions your thing? Technically you are a member of Fairy Tale, so you can join the beauty contest in two days."

"Ha," Kasai chuckled, imagining the grimaces and grossed out faces that would result if she showed off her new injuries. "I was raised by monks. Not much interest in wearing bikinis on stage."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that…" She muttered, and soon after they got back to studying.

4.

When she finally got to speak with Natsu without his 'team', he was looking a lot better than before. Whether it was the festival and fun in the air or his cold was passing, she was happy to see him looking healthier.

"Kasai!" Natsu screamed with food in his mouth, but nonetheless lunging forwards to give her a hug. Once they were in an embrace, and he had gulped down his food, he looked down and grinned at her. "I missed you! I would have visited sooner, but I realized that I didn't know where you live!" He laughed, one hand rubbing the back of his head as he spoke.

"I missed you too. I'm glad that you made it home okay." She said cheerfully, trying to ignore the throbbing pain pulsing through her chest and abdomen. They were close to each other, looking into each other's eyes, and both stepped back with an awkward blush once they realized their proximity.

"Hi Natsu's girlfriend!" Happy greeted, earning a glare from Natsu and chuckle from Kasai.

"It's nice to see you, Happy. I see you guys are enjoying the festival." She commented, noticing the piles of plates on the table they had been sitting at. Her hands were now resting comfortably in the pockets of her black shorts, which reached just past her knees. Her top was a sideways striped shirt, consisting of white and orange. Her hair was tied back in her usual braid.

"Yeah! Want to join us?" Natsu offered, and was happy when she accepted.

5.

"I get why he's here, but what are you two doing here?" Gray asked, looking over at Natsu and Kasai.

"Because he's a man!" Elfman, sitting next to Natsu answered.

"I'm supporting Levy." Kasai answered, smiling at the dark-haired wizard. "Why are you here?" She asked, but was drowned out by the crowd of men surrounding them screaming for the models.

As the first model came up to the stage, and the guys started screaming, Natsu had reached under the table and grabbed her hand.

She responded, interlacing their fingers together, and rested them on her thigh.

6.

"Goddamnit, I want to get out there and fiiiight!" Natsu whined, throwing himself at the magical wall over and over again while on the verge of crying.

"Interesting," Kasai commented, watching the names that would appear on the magic wall and declare wizards winners or losers. "Guild Master," She spoke, turning towards the red faced man. "What do you want me to do? Should I go out and fight, or stay here with you guys?"

"I wanna fiiiight…" Natsu spoke, punching the wall again.

"Gray is as strong as Natsu, so he's probably our best hope." Happy spoke, causing his companion to argue the opposite.

"Kasai, how strong are you? What did your mom teach you, exactly?" The Guild Master asked, looking up at her.

She pondered telling him about her injuries, but thought better of it. He had enough to stress about right now, especially since his health had been visibly deteriating. "My fire abilities are on par with Natsu's."

"Do you think that you can take down my grandson?"

"If I can find him, yeah."

"Then go. Try not to hurt your fellow comrades. When this is over, you'll be an official wizard of Fairy Tale." He stated, and she nodded.

"Come on, seriously!? **She** gets to join the competition!?" Natsu yelled, visibly unhappy.

"Sorry, Natsu. How about we fight tonight after the parade?" She suggested, slightly cheering him up, but obviously not enough to negate the fact that there was a fighting competition he couldn't get to.

"Good luck!" Happy offered, and with one last nod in their direction, ran across the barrier.

7.

20 minutes later, Natsu was cheering as he saw Kasai's name appear as the winner in each battle. "If she wins the competition and beats everyone, then when I beat her tonight, I'll be the strongest!" He cheered.

"Natsu, you may want to phrase that better."

"Oh come on, I just wanna fight someone!"

"No, I mean… never mind."

8.

Once she got to the edge of town, she was exhausted. It had been just over an hour since she left the Guild Hall, she had been running for most of that time, and her stab wounds were beginning to open up.

She wondered if she would have enough energy to defeat the dragonslayer once she reached him, or if she would end up the loser like the others.

Natsu was watching her name through the matches.

" _If you would take my offer and become a wizard, I think you'd have a great chance with him."_

Something about losing a lot of blood made her more inclined to day dream about him. It was a habit she was hoping to break soon.

Although, the idea of kissing him _is_ a really nice thought….

The woman decided to take a short break and drink from her water bottle. She was sitting on some building remains, sipping her drink, when she heard footsteps not far off.

"You're the new bartender, right?" A man asked, presumably one of Laxus's guards, as he stepped closer to her. He had bright green hair and adorned a reddish suit, sword sheathed at his side. "I never expected you to join the competition. Or to actually be a wizard."

"I'm just full of surprises." She stated, putting her water bottle away.

"That looks like a pretty bad injury. If you forfeit, I'll take you to a hospital." He said, noting the blood soaking her shirt and stopping short of just 20 feet of her.

"You act like a bad guy," She spoke, still sitting as she faced him. "But somehow I get the feeling you're not."

"I'm Laxus's personal guard. I obey him."

"So you're going to hurt you companions for his whim?" She asked, and in the background, saw strange orbs fly into the sky and circle the city. "Are those dangerous?" She questioned, pointing to them, and watching his expression turn from calm to surprised. His eyes were wide, locked on those floating objects, and his hand quivered.

"They probably figured out how to release the stone spell." He said, and looked back to the girl sitting on rubble. "So now he's holding the entire city hostage. If you're thinking of attacking one of the probes, I wouldn't recommend it."

"Why not?"

"They're linked. Attack one, and the others will attack _you_." He answered.

Kasai sighed, looking back at the green-haired man. "Where is Laxus?"

"Come on, you don't think I'm that easy, do you?" He asked, chuckling as he started to pull out his blade.

"Pity. It seems that we'll have to do this the hard way…" She spoke, and locked the blood chains around his feet, immobilizing him. "I really, really don't like hurting people. But I'm running out of magic and need to finish this quickly."

9.

" _You_ are Fairy Tale's last hope? Seriously?" Laxus laughed, eyeing the small girl in the doorway of the cathedral, blood soaking her shirt. Her eyes were locked on his face, seemingly tired with a hint of anger.

"Take down those orb things." She demanded, her ceramic bugs already moving in the shadows of the room.

He laughed. "You are just adorable." He smirked, and appeared before her in a flash, his fist hurtling at her face.

And then it froze.

As if his hand was caught in molasses, he tried to pull away from the strange invisible substance, but was thoroughly stuck.

Before he could do anything else, her blood magic pulled his other hand away, leaving him vulnerable to her attacks. "I am fire." She growled, and punched him in the face with her flaming fist, and then kicked his stomach, and proceeded to beat the shit out of him. Her blood magic kept his magic level too low to retaliate, allowing her to beat him without too much trouble.

1.

"Goddamnit, why won't you fight me!?" Natsu yelled, obviously upset with the girl as she tried to eat her meal.

"Knock it off, Natsu. Haven't you noticed all the blood?" Gray scolded him, trying to get between them and offer her some peace.

"What are you talking about? Her shirt is just red."

"It was white and orange earlier today."

"…."

"Actually, you should be able to smell that, since you have heightened senses. That's pretty cold, man, even for you."

"I just want to fight someoooone." He whined, sulking in his seat.

Still eating, she reached over and patted him on the back.

"Imagine how I felt for 4 years…. It's been forever since I had a decent fight." She said between bites, not making him feel any better.

"How the hell did you beat the game, anyway? I thought you were just a 'simple bartender'." Gray asked from the other side of the table, watching her scarf down food almost as quickly as Natsu.

"I lied." She said simply. A sweatdrop appeared on his head at the straightforwardness of her answer. "I'm actually a trained wizard. Since I've had so many assassins try to kill me lately, there's not really much point in hiding it any longer." The red-head answered, shrugging while doing so.

"She's a dragonslayer, like me, so we can fight and not hurt each other with fire." Natsu added, grumbling in his folded arms. "I just wanna fight…"

"All right, Natsu, we can fight now." She said, standing up and stretching. The boy sat up, smile encompassing his face. The others at the table tried to stop them, but they both seemed determined to ignore them.

"Aaaall right!" He cheered, getting up and hopping up and down energetically. Kasai gracefully hopped away from the bench seat, facing him. Before she could suggest moving to a different location, he was already throwing the first punch.

She easily dodged, aware of all the attention they were suddenly getting.

"She took me out today, but I barely saw her coming. You have any idea what magic she uses?" One of the wizards on the sidelines asked, conversing about their experience during the 'competition' earlier that evening.

"None, total mystery. I didn't even know she was a wizard." People whispered.

She dodged several of his attacks, and then threw her own punch at him, missing and then dodging another attack without effort. "You're fast." He complimented, not one of his blows landing.

"You're easily distracted." She teased, and spun out of the way in time to avoid one of her bombs that crawled into him. The bomb was more fire than force, and at most he would have a bruise. It was enough to startle the onlookers but make Natsu happy and feel like she was actually fighting.

"Now we're talking!" He smiled, making his fire much more noticeable.

"Geez, you guys are going to wreck the new guild! Take the fight somewhere else, you two!"

2.

After the festival, they found themselves at the beach again.

They were both on fire, showing their magical strength at a level they could only use on their strongest opponents. Even though it did very little to no damage to each other, given that they're both fire magic users, it was great practice to use the ancient fire techniques. They could hit each other with as much fire power as they wanted and only worry about the bruises afterwards.

"I think I'm starting to understand your style of fighting." Natsu announced, after they had been fighting for a half hour. She had just finished slurping up a bunch of his fire magic, allowing not only herself to get 'fired up', but also use some of the energy for healing her wounds.

"Oh?" She asked, pausing in her movements.

"You avoid brute force at all costs. When you're not fighting me, you like to not use your fire magic in order to surprise them with it when you need to. In other words, you use tricks and sneak attacks. Your fire magic is your ace in the hole." He spoke, standing there with his hands behind his head. "When you fight me, you don't fight to win; otherwise you would use those tactics."

"Are you upset by that?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Surprisingly… no." He said, pausing for thought. "I'll definitely be stronger than you some day, but I haven't been able to fight full force like this since I was with Igneel. It's nice to let loose."

"I feel the same. I haven't been able to fight with fire magic since my mom was alive."

They went back to fighting, but eventually she started to wind down.

He threw a punch at her, and she dodged, but in the process fell into his chest. He caught her, slowly lowering her to the sandy ground, carefully looking at her expression. She was surprisingly limp and weak in his arms, drastically changing from the strong and powerful wizard just moments ago. "Sorry. This is my limit."

"That's okay. How are your injuries holding up?" He asked, panting slightly from their long workout. The blood from her injuries made him wrinkle is nose, disliking the strong smell.

"They're all right." She lied, and was terrible at hiding it.

"Let's get you home. I'm getting pretty tired too."

"Liar."

"Well, I will be able after I carry you home. Where is that, anyway?" He asked, standing up and carrying her bridal style.

"You don't have to-"

"I've been a royal pain in your ass all day. It's the least I can do. Now, house…?" He asked, and despite the awkwardness, leaned into his bare chest and started giving him directions.

3.

She couldn't remember exactly how it happened. All she knew was that she woke up to his lips on hers, it was dark, and she was moving into him. He wasn't wearing his vest. She was wearing a t-shirt and shorts.

One of his hands was on her hip, dangerously caressing the patch of skin revealed by the hitched shirt. The other hand was on the side of her face, cupping her cheek and gently pulling her towards him.

She was in a similar position, but instead of his hip, her fingers were lightly touching the taught muscles of his chest, caressing the contours of his muscles, gently flicking his nipple. They were warm, even warmer than normal, and for a moment she debated the usefulness of their clothing.

Slowly, Natsu found his way on top of her, his lips exploring the cape of her neck. His tongue slithered along her soft skin, licking every inch of flesh he could get, and moving downwards.

"Natsu," She breathed, running her hands through his hair and unwittingly causing him to crash his lips back into hers, a renewed lust burning in his kiss. They were practically on fire, heat exchanging between their exposed skin, and in the kiss they could taste the other's fire magic.

4.

The next morning, she found herself nude and hugging the man she had slept with.

A new warm sensation, a sense of content and love, was spreading through her. She was warm. Happy.

She looked up at his sleeping face, the softness in his expression making her want to kiss him again. He looked angelic, peaceful…

The woman drifted off to sleep again, cuddling up to him and nuzzling her face into his bare chest.

1.

'I never realized how shallow Lucy was… I forgot that I haven't known her for that long…' Kasai thought to herself, watching the blond sulk at not being to win the prize money from the beauty contest, and then get excited when the mention of a reporter came up. "Ya know, if you need money, there are tons of jobs you can take…" Kasai brought up, although it had been mentioned a few minutes before, and watched the blond ignore her and run off to do her hair and make up and whatever else. "I can't tell if she's shallow or lazy." She commented to the girl across the table, who was again going for the drink in her hand.

"I would guess shallow if it wasn't for her lack of boyfriends." She commented after she gulped down a swig of beer. "She's just young and wants attention. She's also stressed about her rent, making her extra crazy."

"So are you going to get all dressed up for the interview as well?"

"Oh, maybe… but I'm not going to go all out like those two." Kanaa replied, eyeing the red head. "If anything, Natsu is probably going to cause the most ruckus. He hates the reporter that's showing up today."

"Not surprising." Kasai chuckled, suddenly enjoying the woman's company. Albeit a heavy drinker, she seemed the most down-to-earth out of the Guild members.

"So you've been hiding your powers the past few years, eh?" She asked, causing the woman to blush. "After all the years I've been your friend, your best friend through thick and thin, you didn't tell me you could use magic."

"Serving you drinks wouldn't exactly count us as close," The red head pointed out, smiling awkwardly. "But it wasn't personal, Kanaa. I hid it from everyone…I told the Guild Master when I joined, and that was it. I would still be in hiding if it wasn't for Laxus the other day. And then the assassins would make it just a matter of time."

"You and I should fight some time," Kanaa suggested, and then took another drink from her glass. "We need more strong female fighters. And you took out half the Guild and Laxus. That's no easy feat." She said, smiling at her friend. "I hope that we can be friends now."

"I see how it is. You only like me because I can fight."

"Hey, I liked you when you gave me drinks. Being a fighter is just a bonus." She said, and the other woman laughed. "Speaking of which… I heard Laxus hurt you pretty bad. How are you doing?"

"I was injured before the fighting… remember that bounty I left for the guild a few weeks ago?" She asked, and the woman's eyes widened.

"That was you!?" She asked, coughing on her drink. "The note we found wasn't signed; there was too much blood on it. Those two were wizard assassins, part of an elite killing team. Maybe the strongest assassins in the country. They were some of the strongest wizards in wizard Guilds before they were kicked out for taking illegal jobs. We just assumed that Laxus or Mystogan had left them here…. It wouldn't have been the first time. You weren't kidding when you said you were holding back."

"Strongest in the country?" She asked, a smile coming to her lips. "That makes me feel a little better after being tricked by them. One of them pretended to be Natsu and then stabbed me; now I have to throw fireballs at him once in a while to make sure it's actually him."

"You use fire magic?" Kana asked, a knowing smile tugging at her lips. "And why would they impersonate Natsu of all people? I mean, if they were just impersonating random friends, Levy seems like the smarter choice." She asked, watching the blush appear on the quiet girl's cheeks. In the background, they could hear the pink-haired boy yelling and being obnoxious, adding to her blush.

"Natsu and I are good friends." She said simply.

"With _benefits_?" She asked, the knowing grin widening.

"You really are in heat, aren't you?" Kasai asked, referring to their earlier conversation and watched the woman's face fall onto the table and groan. She took that as a 'yes', and chuckled triumphantly before going back to her tea.

2.

"I don't know what's going on with Lucy lately. Whenever I get anywhere near her, she starts blushing and shoves me away. I don't get it!" Natsu was explaining one day, slouching into the table. "I mean, we went on the mission that got her rent money, and then we came back and suddenly she's acting all weird!"

"Do you think she has feelings for you?" Kasai asked from his side, causing a 'pfffft' to escape his lips.

"Nah. It's something else." He replied, and Happy finally looked up from his fish he had been happily munching on.

"Lucy is weird." Happy contributed, and Natsu nodded.

"Do you want me to talk to her?" The red head asked, and Natsu cheered up.

"That would be sweet!" He said, and then pulled her into a hug.

3.

"Hey Lucy," Kasai greeted, walking up to the blond and disrupting whatever she was thinking about. The blond looked up and smiled.

"Kasai! I didn't see you there!" She spoke, obviously embarrassed.

"No worries. Just thought I'd come over and say 'hi'. Natsu mentioned you've been acting weird lately." She spoke, watching the female's reaction carefully. The bond's cheeks flared up, an awkward blush appearing on her face and turning it the shade of a tomato.

"I, uh, he said that?"

"Yeah. Are you okay? Your face is a bit red."

"Oh, i-i-i-i-is it?" She stuttered, causing the other girl to sigh.

"Do you like Natsu?"

"What, no! Of course not!" She stated, and just as she said that, they both looked over to see Natsu doing a weird butt shaking dance on a table. Both of them stared for a moment, not sure what to make of it. "Definitely not." Lucy said after a moment, her face just returning to it's normal shade of pale when Natsu looked over and winked at them, causing her to become red again.

Kasai chuckled, and 'whooted' at the dancing man. "Shake that booty!" She yelled, laughing with the rest of the guild as he made silly gestures and movements.

After a moment, she looked back to Lucy, noticing her awkwardness. She then looked over at Mirajane, who was looking Lucy and laughing.

"You think Natsu has a crush on _you_." She guessed, causing the blond to stammer and become even redder. Kasai chuckled. "So that's why you're acting odd. Would it put you at ease if I told you he only thought of you as a friend?" She asked, watching her complexion turn from red to pink.

"Wait… are you saying… you and him…?"

"Don't tell anyone, okay?" She whispered with a wink.

"You… like _that_ guy?" She asked, referring to the man still dancing like an idiot on a table.

"Yeah."

"Lucy!" Natsu suddenly announced, and ran over to them. "Can Lucy and I have a moment?" He asked Kasai, and she nodded.

"Sure."

The red head walked away, using her heightened hearing to listen in on their conversation. He had something to tell her alone, tonight, and she wasn't supposed to bring anyone else. 'No wonder the girl is freaking out… you're an idiot, Natsu.' Kasai couldn't help but laugh as she reached Mirajane, fully aware that it was likely her fault for Lucy's predicament. "Having fun?"

"Lucy is so easy." She said, smiling as she continued to watch the blond from afar. "It's just harmless fun. We both know that Natsu doesn't have any actual feelings for her." She said, a knowing smile tugging at her lips when she looked at the red head.

"Beneath that sweet exterior you do have a dark side." Kasai muttered, and watched as Natsu left the building at full sprint, leaving Lucy behind confused as ever. She seemed even more on edge than before, though, making Kasai wonder what she was freaked out about now. 'Maybe she thinks Natsu wants to cheat on me with her…?' She pondered, chuckling at the idea and watching her run awkwardly out of the mess hall.

Suddenly she felt weird.

She had the inexplicable urge to out drink Kana. Which, considering she had practically no tolerance for alcohol, made absolutely no sense. "Kana!" Kasai yelled at the top of her lungs. "I'm going to drink more than you!"

Everything suddenly went black.

4.

When she came to the next day, she found herself home in her bed, with no memory of what happened.

"I remember talking with Mirajane…" She muttered, and suddenly groaned as she felt a headache pounding against her skull. "Did I drink?" She asked, suddenly feeling sick. Her hand flew to her forehead, only to feel a sticky note on it.

She looked at the messy hand writing, trying to make it out. "Everyone acting weird. Found you passed out at guild. Brought you home. –Natsu"

"That was nice of him." The woman murmured, a smile fluttering to her face. "I guess today I take my first job as a wizard. Makarov said he had a special mission for me…. I was hoping to spend yesterday preparing for it, but I guess I'll just have to make due."

She jumped out of bed, dizzy, but quickly regained her balance and went for the coffee machine and aspirin bottle. Half way there, she had to change routes for the bathroom, the alcohol in her belly sudden deciding to revolt against her.

5.

"But I wanted to go with her on her first mission!" Natsu yelled at the Guild Master, flames shooting out of his nostrils. "You didn't even want her to work as a wizard when she first joined!"

"At the time, she was asking to be a bartender, not an active wizard of FairyTale. I also didn't know just how powerful she was."

"But she's still injured! She'll need back up, at least!"

"That's why I'm sending Erza with her. It's not like I would send a wizard on their first S-Class mission alone. How foolish do you think I am?"

"You're just jealous because she's going on an s-ranked mission and you're not." Happy stated, dodging a burst of flames he shot his way.

"Can you blame me!?" He asked, glaring at the little blue cat.

Kasai sighed, not liking the negative energy Natsu was generating. Although it may just be a selfish part of her, she wondered if he was more upset about her injuries than the rank of her mission. He had promised to protect her, and when she got injured, he failed. She'd caught his gaze lingering on her stab wounds more than once.

She blew a tunnel of fire at him, hitting him in the face. "Stop worrying, Natsu. You should be happy if I become an S-ranked wizard." She said, not missing the annoyed glare from him. "Since non-s-ranked wizards are now allowed to go on missions with a willing s-ranked wizard, I can take you on tougher missions in the future." She reasoned, causing his frown to turn upside down. "If this mission goes well, I'll be a certified S-ranked wizard."

"Really!? You mean it!?"

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Natsu. I have the right to not let you go on those missions."

"Come on, gramps! You gotta let me go! I taught Kasai everything she knows!"

"You taught her advanced martial arts?" Erza asked, not surprised when the fire boy went with it and claimed he did.

"And since she's injured, why not let me go in her place?" He asked, making Kasai sulk a little. 'So much for him being worried about me…. He really does just want to go on an S-ranked mission.'


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note:** Hello wonderful readers! I'm sorry that this post is so late. Over the last couple of weeks I've had a break up, finals, found out I'm asexual, and a 4 day trip to San Francisco (20 hours of driving. -_-). Oh, and I was also recruited to help coordinate a dance.

Soooo... I've been busy. Plus I'm graduating this term, have deadlines coming up...

Any who. Sorry this is late, hope you enjoy the chapter. :)

 **Chapter 5**

 _First Mission_

"I'm surprised, Erza. You're not as… rambunctious without the others around." Kasai spoke for the first time in twenty minutes, looking away from the rolling hills in the distance. They were both sitting across from each other in the train car, quietly gazing into the sunset, and had been lost in thought for quite a while.

Erza's eyes drifted to the woman, meeting her quiet gaze. "Something about you is very… calming. It's nice to be around another woman that has strength matching my own. Your wardrobe could use some upgrading, though." She said, not bothering to pretend like she approved of the other woman's fashion sense.

"Making clothing fireproof takes a lot of magic and time… There's a reason why you never see Natsu wear different clothes." Kasai defended, suddenly feeling self-conscious as the other woman looked her up and down.

Since her white and orange shirt had been stained with blood, and nothing she tried could get it out (likely because her blood magic), she now only had one shirt that was fireproof. It was her black and green one with long sleeves that she preferred to wear when fighting at night. She had one pair of black shorts and similar black pants.

"Since I joined the Guild, I haven't had the time to go clothes shopping or configure a new wardrobe for fighting. When I left my home 4 years ago, I only grabbed what I could carry, leaving most of my fireproof clothing behind."

"If we have time on this trip, maybe we can do some shopping. Since you're a member of Fairy Tale now, you can't just walk around in raggy shorts. We have a reputation to uphold, and appearance matters." She said, causing the other woman to frown slightly.

"I was never one for fashion… As long as I can move, it provides some level of coverage for my hands, and it's fireproof, I don't really care what I wear."

"You can make anything fireproof with your spells, right?" She asked, a mischievous grin on her face and evil glare in her eye. A chill ran up Kasai's spine, and she had a bad feeling about this trip.

1.

When they returned from the mission, only 3 days later, Kasai had a new wardrobe that would take her weeks to make ready for battle. She had prepared one of them so that she could be 'presentable' to the public, but only because Erza had bugged the hell out of her to do it. She hated wasting the magical energy on something so materialistic, but she would waste just as much energy arguing about it with the woman.

Given that Fairy Tale promotes itself through magazines and cover spreads, showing off their magical abilities (and bodies), it didn't surprise her that they wanted her to change her outfit. _Knowing_ that didn't make her any less annoyed, though.

She was surprised at Erza's knowledge about clothing meant for battle. The red head had a surprising closet when it came to fighting clothes, so if anyone was going to help her, she was the best person to help.

"Hey, I thought you guys were going on a mission, not a shopping spree!" Natsu yelled, eyeing all the new suitcases behind them when they entered the Guild hall.

"It was a reward for accomplishing our mission… and especially for Kasai, proving herself to be an s-class wizard." She said, patting her friend on the back. "Don't you like her new outfit, Natsu?"

"It's alright." He muttered, going back to sulking.

Her outfit was very similar to Kana's, much to Kasai's dismay. Her black shorts had been replaced by red, black and white shorts that cut off just above her knees, but were thankfully baggy. (Erza tried to make her wear short-shorts) There were ancient symbols sewn onto the sides, making them look 'cool'.

Her shirt was basically a black sports bra, and would be revealing her abdomen if she didn't have bandages covering her torso and chest. Erza had sleeves specially made for her, which attached to the straps of the bra, and had the same design as her shorts. The only difference was that they had white with black lines criss-crossing, matching her bandages and making it look more like a fashion statement. Her shoes were probably the only part of the outfit that she truly liked- they were extremely comfortable, and were lighter and more efficient than any of her previous ones. They would be great for fighting in.

"Don't listen to him. I think you look great." Lucy spoke, walking up to them and smiling giddily. "I wondered what you looked like under all those baggy clothes."

"I prefer to keep it a mystery." She replied, feeling awkward from all the stares.

"Woohoo, I see the mission was a success!" The Guild Master cheered, smiling at the two young ladies with a drink in his hand.

"So it _was_ a shopping mission!?" Natsu yelled, getting fired up again.

"I had two missions when we started. The real mission to prove her strength, and if that was a success, also get her a new wardrobe."

"So you were secretly trying to get my clothes off for the entire mission?" Kasai asked, grimacing at the woman and eyeing her like a lecher.

"Please, forgive me! You may punish me for my deception."

"I'm thinking 'bout it." She said a twitch and fist ready to punch her.

"Don't be so harsh on her, Kasai. It was my idea."

"I don't mind wearing a uniform. I've had to for most of my jobs in this town," Kasai spoke, her glare fixing on him. "I just don't like you guys being sneaky about it. If you have a specific dressing code that I need to abide, I understand that. You don't need to make secret missions about me, though."

"Erza must have made you wear some pretty freaky stuff if you're this mad." Happy spoke, poking fun at the girl. Some of the guys started getting smiley, as they day dreamed about what she would look like in girly clothes.

Kasai was about to yell at them, but luckily Natsu was faster. "That's gross! Don't think about Kasai like that!" He yelled, ready to throw some punches.

"Someone getting jealous, huh?" Kana asked from nearby, causing his face to heat up.

"Maybe I just think she should wear whatever the hell she wants! You ever think about that?"

"So you're saying you've never thought about what she might look like in different clothing?" She asked, not surprised when he paused for a second.

"Of course not! I don't sit around wondering what girls would like in different outfits."

"A real man isn't afraid to admit something like that." Elfman jumped in, all of whom were now caught up in arguing while Kasai was on the sidelines awkwardly watching the fight unfold.

"… I think I'm going to ho home."

"Be sure to get here on time tonight. I need you to cover my shift." Mirajane spoke, causing the woman to further sulk. In the background, she heard the fighting start, bodies beginning to punch and fly.

"Right, it's Friday. I work Friday nights here, and Saturday nights at the Sunflower…." She mumbled to herself, and then sighed.

2.

"So, you're covering for Mirajane?" Natsu asked, sitting at the bar with the young woman and sipping a rum and coke.

"My official schedule is Friday nights, since most of my missions last less than a week. When I don't have missions, I ask Mirajane or Elfman if they want any days off. They both go back and forth between bartending, so I get whatever shifts neither of them don't want or when Elfman is out of town." She said, glancing at Mirajane on stage singing with her guitar.

"I was looking forward to spending time with you this weekend." He admitted after making sure there was no one around. Happy was off chatting with Gray and Lucy.

Kasai couldn't help but smile. "Really? You seemed pretty mad about me going on that mission. I thought you might hate me."

"I still wish I could have gone with you, but I was pissed off at Gramps, not you. I don't think anything would make me not like you." He admitted, enjoying the blush appearing on her cheeks.

"Could I get another drink?" Kana asked, causing Kasai to snap out of her gaze and get back to work.

3.

"Gimme another drink," Natsu asked, practically falling out of his chair.

"Sorry Natsu, you've reached your limit. I can get a soda instead, though."

"I want more rum."

"You've had enough rum."

"But… I want it."

"Nope."

"You're no fun. You're a party pooper!" He yelled, giving her a thumbs down. "You're worse than Mirajane!"

"She usually replaces his drinks with sodas by the end of the night, and he never knows the difference." Happy spoke, causing the bartender to frown.

"That would have been nice of you to mention earlier… I just thought he had a high tolerance for it."

"Nope. Last time Mirajane gave him a bunch of alcohol, he almost burned down the entire Guild."

4.

"You shouldn't have cut me off like that… what kind of girlfriend are you?!" Natsu asked, then crashing onto the couch of the girl's apartment. She could have taken him to the bedroom, but when he saw the couch he practically dived for it. Happy was flying behind them, landing on the coffee table. "I could hand a thousand shots of tequillaaaaaaa!" He sang, beginning to stand and then falling over again. "Everything is all spinnyyyy…"

"I haven't seen you drink this much since the Island festival last year." Happy commented, watching Kasai walk off to get a bucket. "Where are you going?"

"If he's going to puke, it's not going to be on my carpet." She stated, making sure that Natsu saw the orange bucket in her hand before setting it down. "Does he do this often?"

"At parties, yeah. It was a quiet night, though, so I'm not sure why he drank so much." He admitted, watching his master lay there useless while his eyes swirled in confusion.

"I should have cut you off sooner." She said to the pink-haired man, sitting down on the coffee table next to Happy. "What were you thinking?"

"You're cute." He said with a grin, and then reached over and hugged her waist, causing him to bridge the gap between the couch and the table with his body. His face nuzzled into her side while giggling.

"Natsu usually just dances on tables when he drinks. This is weird."

"Did someone say 'dancing'!?" He yelled, and then jumped onto the table and started wiggling his butt like the other day, forcing both Happy and Kasai off of the small table and to the couch.

"Yay, dancing!" Happy cheered, causing Kasai to sigh.

"I can't sleep until you two are settled."

"Come on, Kasai, loosen up! Dance with meeee!" He whined, trying to pull her onto the coffee table, but then accidentally causing it to break under his weight.

The boy, now laughing, sat a few feet away from her on the ground with the pieces of previous coffee table at his feet. Not missing a beat, he stood up and grabbed her hand, pulling her into him.

"Do you know salsa?" He asked, completely derailing her train of thought.

"The food?"

"No, dancing, silly! Do you know how to follow?"

"Wait, you know how to dance?"

"Erza taught me. Now, when I push you like this, you step back- exactly! Then, when I pull you like this- yeah! You're doing great!" He said loudly, and started 'salsa'ing around the room to no music.

Happy tried to sing a Spanish tune, but it only came out as bad, out-of-key-gibberish.

Despite her being annoyed at him for breaking her table, she couldn't help but laugh and enjoy the crude dancing, even with Happy singing so badly in the background.

5.

"I know that this is a lot of pressure on you, Kasai." The Guild Master spoke, then sipping away at his coffee. "I'm sorry that this had to happen when you joined the Guild. Under normal circumstances, I would want to put you under the spotlight like this."

"You lost one of your strongest members, and the second strongest has mysteriously disappeared. Not to mention you just had a war with another Guild."

"Fairy Tale needs to maintain its' status, or else our enemies may sense a vulnerability and attack. Do you understand what I'm asking of you?"

"You want me to not be shy about my abilities and showboat them like Natsu and Erza."

"Even though they cause a lot of damage, their resulting reputation has helped keep Fairy Tale a force to be reckoned with. Since my grandson has left there guild, there have been rumors floating around that we're vulnerable."

"I'm afraid that I won't be able to live up to your expectations, Makarov. As long as I have wizards and assassins trying to kill me everyday, show boasting may get me killed."

"What if I help you get whoever is sending them off of your back? If I do that, will you help fill the status place of Laxus? That would require being more present with magazine interviews and parades."

"Within reason, yes. I'll be more forward about my abilities…. If you help me, I'd be glad to. It's been tiresome not using my fire magic in public." She said with a devious grin, chuckling at the thought of destroying buildings with Natsu. "I never thought I'd hear someone say they _wanted_ me to destroy things."

"… I'm going to regret this, aren't I?" He asked himself, already imagining the chaos and destruction she could do.

1.

"Gramps actually _asked_ you to break stuff with your fire magic!?" Natsu yelled, gapping at the girl with wide eyes. "No fair! I've been breaking his stuff for years and he's never thanked me!"

"This is a good thing, Natsu. We wouldn't have to restrain our fights to the beach anymore. We can practice at the Guild Hall as well."

"But I like fighting you alone…"

"Natsu likes Kasaaaaiiii~" Happy sang, giggling at Natsu's embarrassed face.

"It's not like that, all right?" He said defensively, glowering at the flying cat. "If we fight at the Guild, I can't go all out with my fire magic. When we're at the beach, if we break or catch anything on fire, we can just throw water on it. No harm done, no angry Fairy Tale wizards trying to bill me for damage."

"You also won't be able to randomly stop and make out when you feel like it."

"That too!" Natsu agreed, causing the other red head to burst out laughing. "Don't even act like you don't enjoy that, too!" He teased, not expecting someone from the guild to listen in. They were still two blocks away from the mess hall, so they thought they were safe.

"Enjoy what?" Juvia asked, causing them to jump in surprise.

"We were just talking about sparring later." Kasai replied quickly, trying to keep her cool.

"You two spar in your spare time? That's so cute! Maybe I should do that with Gray," She spoke, suddenly pondering of ways to hook up with Gray.

"Okay, nice seeing you, bye!" Natsu spoke quickly and rushed off, Happy racing to keep up with him.

Juvia was too far gone to notice his haste disappearance, lost in her crazy fantasies.

2.

"I don't remember seeing you around Fairy Tale. Are you new or somethin'?" Natsu asked the guy at the bar, curious about the mysterious cloaked man. Shrouded in black fabric, he couldn't see any distinguishing features indicating that he was from their Guild. Yet, he was there, standing in front of the bar and staring at Kasai.

"Do you want a drink…?" Kasai asked, not sensing any strong magic from, nor ill intention, but his cold demeanor was beginning to urk her. He just stood there, not saying anything. Other members started noticing.

"Taiyo?" He suddenly asked, causing a startled expression to encompass her face. Subtly, she readied for battle.

"Yes?"

"I am Nakamuro, a monk from the East Temple." He said, and removed his hood. He was bald, but had tattoos running from beneath his cloak all around his head, a variety or magical and spiritual symbols. "It's an honor to meet you." The monk spoke, and bowed his head. "Although you are not an official member, you are spoken highly of at my temple."

"You were trained by monks?!" Natsu asked, causing a sweatdrop to form on most of the guildmember's faces.

"You didn't you know that?" Gray asked, causing the fire breather to respond in angry yelling.

"So you're from the East Temple?" She asked, eyeing the cloaked man. He smiled, innocently.

"Yes."

"Then why don't you smell like incense?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at her.

"Just because I'm clean-"

"Monks from the East temple always smelled like incense so that they would be recognized in the afterlife. It's a specific scent that even washing their clothes 50 times wouldn't be able to get the stench out." She spoke, glaring at him. "If you're here to capture or kill me, it's a stupid way to go about it."

He stood there, awkward, the entire Guild now focusing on him. "… The monks told me that you're allergic to Chamdire." He said, suddenly smiling. "I've been releasing it into the air ever since I got here."

Her eyes widened. Blood pulsing.

"You idiot. If you did any research on Chamdire, you'd know that it makes people with lacrima inside them go into a killing rage." She said, glaring at him.

"Lacrima? Isn't that what was inside Laxus?" One member asked.

"What the hell did you just do to Kasai!?" Natsu yelled, grabbing the 'monk' by the arms and shaking him.

"Natsu, listen. When I start fighting, you need to hit me with everything you've got for 10 minutes. Otherwise I'll fry everyone here to a crisp." She told him, gritting her teeth together as a searing pain shot through her head. The woman stood there, shaking, and looking at the counter.

"Kasai, are you alright? What does that mean?" Gray asked, stepping forward when he noticed that fire was beginning to erupt from her hands.

"Run." She said, and suddenly her eyes turned white.

Ten minutes later she returned to her normal self, only to awaken to Gray about to punch her in the face. Luckily, in her enraged state, she had been smart enough to make her molasses barrier, otherwise she had no way to dodge. Her limbs were caged by ice.

"Is everyone okay?" She asked, relinquishing the spell holding him in place and easily pulling her limbs from the ice. Her brown eyes looked at her surroundings, trying to assess the damaged.

"Mostly you just tried to kill the guy that attacked you. You beat up Natsu pretty bad."

"I'm…. f-f-f-f-fine!" Natsu grumbled from the corner of the room, reaching up from the rubble of broken tables and chairs.

"You were only out for a few minutes." Gray added, causing her to relax a bit.

"The amount of Chamdire must not have been very concentrated. Last time I was exposed to it, I leveled an entire forest…. And critically injured a lot of people."

"In ten minutes?" He asked, thinking about the fire magic he had just seen her use. If Natsu hadn't been there to absorb most of her fire magic, she really could have fried up the entire Guild without even trying.

"There's a monk close my age that is allergic to it. The monk he talked to probably got us mixed up… Are you okay, Natsu?"

"Never better." He grumbled from the rubble.

3.

"Come on, you're going on a solo mission AGAIN?!" Natsu asked two days later, watching her pack her suit case.

"You go on missions with other people all the time. Why are you upset that I'm going on a few by myself?" She asked, slightly amused by his temper tantrum.

"Because they're s-ranked missions!" He yelled, flames shooting out of his mouth.

"First of all, I never said this was S-ranked. Makarov assigned it to me. Just because some of your missions aren't ranked as S-class, doesn't mean they shouldn't be." She stated, a knowing smirk on her face. "You've beaten a lot of powerful people over the years, Natsu. You're as powerful as an s-class wizard, you just don't have the skill to handle delicate situations."

"What the hell does that mean?!" He yelled, just as Happy entered the room, a fish in his paws.

"It means that your solution to everything is to fight it, and that's not always the best solution." She said, trying to phrase it as delicately at possible. "You may be physically stronger than me, but I can take down stronger enemies because I catch them off guard at their weakest."

"… so you fight dirty." He summarized, causing her and Happy to sigh.

"Natsu…"

"There's no point in reasoning with him, Kasai. He's just too stupid." Happy told her.

"Hey, that's mean!" Natsu accused, shooting a glare at him.

"I've got another couple hours until my train leaves. Any idea what I should do with that time?" She suddenly asked, closing her suitcase and looking at him.

"Happy, could you go to the store and pick up some cereal?"

"Aaaw, come on, you guys could at least be more discrete than that." Happy whined, and grumbled as he left the room.

Once they heard him leave the front door, they were naked wrestling to their hearts content.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** An extra chapter this week since I was so late on the last one. ;)

 **Chapter 6**

 _Babysitting_

Even though she knew the importance of the mission, she wished she was with Natsu right then.

Kids were not her strong point.

Especially when they were being hunted down by some of the strongest wizards of the dark guilds... actually, she felt more comfortable with the fighting than the actual girl. The girl's father is one of the Guild Masters of the dark guilds, and is currently going through a divorce with a woman in Magnolia. Since he has recently refused to appear in court, or abide by any of the laws in Magnolia, the court judge requested that a wizard from Fairy Tale retrieve the little girl for her safety. Considering all of the money Fairy Tale owes the town from all of the damage they do, Erza and Natsu making up over half of it, Makarov didn't want to disappoint the court.

However, Makarov stressed that if the mission proved to be too dangerous, not to put her life on the line. There's no evidence that the father is abusing the girl, and given the Guild's other pressing matters, he would be willing to tell the judge that they tried by sending one of their best wizards, but didn't want to lose that wizard in the process.

It wasn't an easy matter getting the young girl out of the Guild, but Kasai managed it. She just had to fight the entire Guild and the Guild Master, her father, who turned into a giant demon and pain the in ass to take down.

So now she was exhausted. They were currently on a train together, the young brunette sound asleep on the other side of the compartment.

She sighed, hating the feeling that had been plaguing her thoughts. The idea that enemies were on the train, ready to attack, was constantly on her mind and not that unrealistic. They had jumped on the train just as it was leaving, so there wouldn't be too many people with the speed to catch up with it, but with her kind of luck there were probably a few.

The door leading into the hall was sealed with similar magic used during the competition. She had Levy help her create it, and they both use it on occasion. Basic walls set up in order to protect the user or whoever they are guarding against outside attacks. They proved extremely useful during escort missions.

1.

Whoever might have been an enemy didn't attack them on the train, but she was still on guard.

The little girl preferred clinging to the woman's back than walking, one of the few good things about the mission so far. The girl was too scared to disobey her, and understood that she was a powerful shield in a fight. 'Hang tight' or 'hide' were the two words she particularly taught her.

Her first visit was the Court House, where she had to wait several minutes with the secretary in order to speak to the judge.

"Hello, Judge Turnip." She greeted, bowing slightly. The little girl on her back was shaking.

"So you're the Fairy Tale wizard Makarov sent? Who is that little girl on your back?" He asked, smiling at the young girl, and chuckling when she hid further into the woman's back.

"This is 5 and a half years old Stacey." She introduced. "Stacey, this is Judge Turnip."

"It's nice to meet you, Stacey. I'm the one that requested this young wizard to get you. I hope you understand."

"Thank… you." The little girl whimpered, clutching tighter to the wizard's back.

"Admittedly, I wasn't sure if you would succeed. There was a chance that you would have to fight an entire Guild, after all." The judge spoke to Kasai, not missing the cuts, scrapes, and bruises on her limbs. A very pronounced one was on her face, extending an inch across her forehead.

"When I heard Stacey needed my help, I risked it. No child should be left behind, especially in the hands of an egomaniac. He may be a good man at heart, but he's yet to prove himself ready to take care of a child."

"I completely agree, and want to emphasize that to Stacey. None of us think that your father is a bad man. We just want to make sure that whatever home you are put into, it's what's best for you. If your father can prove that he is a capable parent, I would gladly give him custody over you."

"I don't… want to go… back." She whimpered, causing the Judge to make a little 'aaaw' face, and suddenly more determined to help her.

"Then I'll do everything in my power to make sure you stay with your mother." He said, an enthusiastic fist in the air reminding Kasai of Fairy Tale's finest. Stars were in his eyes, pumped up to do his job and help people. The red head couldn't help but admire him a little.

"Excellent. Once you tell me the address of the safe house, I'm going to stop by my Guild's infirmary to get patched up."

"Given the direness of the situation, I would recommend going straight to the safe house. There will be basic medical supplies there… unless you need a skilled doctor?"

"No, that should be fine. I was hoping to restock on supplies, too, but I guess my supplies are sufficient to last the next few days. Now… safe house address?"

2.

Apparently, Stacey's mother was extremely wealthy. Kasai wasn't sure why she was surprised by that.

"Stacey, my darling, _so_ glad to see you," Her mother, blond and lipstick dark as blood, spoke as she gave her daughter a brief hug. Then she went to her place at the large dinner table, sat down, and ordered the staff to bring them food.

The 'safe house' was practically a castle, filled with servants that Kasai doubted were cleared to know about the location, and were security risks. She kept a close eye on Stacey.

"You look tense, Miss… Kasai, was it?" Miss Caroline asked, resting her half empty glass of wine on the table.

"Do you think it's wise to have so many servants at a _safe house_?" She asked, frankly, from the side of the room. The red head wasn't eating with them, but was instead sitting on the sidelines, alert and ready for any attack.

"Each servant has been working for me practically since birth. Their families and families before them have worked for my family. They would never betray me." She answered, confidently. Kasai was glad that she had at least put a little effort into think about the situation, but still did not like having so many people around.

There were two female servants bringing them food, and several more in the kitchen, while one butler occupied each doorway in the house, it seemed.

"I'm sorry if this makes you uncomfortable, Kasai. I'm confident in our safety with you here."

" _Stacey's_ safety is my main priority in this mission." She emphasized, making sure that the woman understood. "If you want my protection as well, you'll have to stay close by. Otherwise, if you're half way across this mansion and I've got dark wizards after me-"

"Oh, nonsense, you misunderstand. I have my own wizard body guard disguised as a Butler. You should lighten up." The blond said with a laugh, "Perhaps a glass of wine?"

"Sorry, I don't drink while I'm working." Kasai answered, her body already regretting the decision. She had at least one broken rib, and maybe two fractured ones, that made any position for her uncomfortable and painful. Not to mention all the bruises that reminded her of its presence when she sat down. "Where will you be sleeping?"

"On the East end of the building, down the hall and to your right. Can't miss it." She answered, and went back to her food.

The dragonslayer had showered and used her own medical supplies when she got there to patch herself up, but the healing magic was slow moving on her ribs and likely wouldn't be healed for a few days. The magic drain was also a huge risk.

Still… this job was better than cleaning a bar bathroom or being a cleaning lady.

Even though it was painful, she liked this new life.

She was helping people.

Thanks to her, this girl might grow up in a normal life. A normal _rich_ life, but hey, who was she to judge?

3.

There was a couch just outside of Stacey's room. It was an ugly shade of green, reminding the young woman of barf, but once she sat down on it, didn't care. It was one of the most comfortable couches she had ever sat on.

After she had set up a spell to prevent anyone from getting into her room from the window, and Stacey insisted that she stay close, Kasai had compromised by stating that she would sleep on the couch in the hallway. Somewhere deep inside, she was hoping to sleep on one of the numerous rich beds and sleep like a queen, but it didn't look like that would be the case.

Although Stacey's mom was gone as soon as they finished dinner, her nanny was there to take care of her and comfort her. She was a very sweet young woman, close to her age, and short black hair. Her eyes, a stunning shade of green, looked like emeralds from far away.

Kasai had her doubts as to whether the mother would be a good parent, but when she saw how the nanny took care of the girl, her worries were at ease. Even if the mother was callous, the servants seemed down-to-earth, and could be good role models.

Once Stacey was bathed, clothed, and put to bed, the nanny took a seat next to the sprawled out woman. Her arms were hooked behind the couch, her legs spread out, and back slouched into the couch. She stiffened a bit when the nanny got close, and although was wary of everyone, didn't necessarily think she was a threat.

"You look tired."

"I may not look it, but I'm fired up. I have so much energy right now, I could run laps around mountains." She said, unenthusiastically and obviously tired, causing the other woman to giggle. The nanny could see the Fairy Tale mark on her shoulder.

"So you're a Fairy Tale wizard?" She asked, and with effort, Kasai sat up to chat with her.

"Yeah. I'm pretty new, but I'm learning the ropes pretty fast."

"'New'? I'm surprised that they would send an inexperienced wizard to protect Lady Stacey."

"Just because I'm new doesn't mean I'm inexperienced. I've fought my fair share of battles before joining the Guild."

"I really admire what you're doing," The nanny said, resting a hand on her knee. "I heard that you had to fight an entire Guild to get Lady Stacey back. That must have been amazing to see."

"Just doing my job." She said, blushing when she felt her thumb begin to gently caress her exposed skin, going slightly beneath her shorts.

She gulped.

"I have a boyfriend." She stammered, then looking in her eyes and becoming mesmerized. The green eyes were swimming in an oddly hypnotic way, causing all thoughts to cease in her head; all she could do was sit there and stare at her eyes.

When her lips met hers, she barely felt it. She was too focused on those green orbs staring at her.

She didn't even notice the woman's hand creeping along her abdomen until she felt a sharp pain, causing her to break the trance.

The green-eyed woman slashed at her face, and although she couldn't dodge it, still shoved the hypnotists away that caused her to fly several yards and hit the ground awkwardly. As Kasai jumped to her feet, she heard a scream from Stacey's room, and quickly ran into it.

A shadow creature had somehow gotten into the room.

She didn't have time to figure out how, so she just threw a fire ball at it, causing it to disappear in a puff of smoke. "Kasai!" The little girl screamed, and she instantly ran forward and scooped her into her arms. Using her right arm to hold her and left hand for attacks, she ran out of the room to find her mom.

If one of the servants could trick her, she had no doubt they could get past the other wizard.

When they ran out of the room and back into the hallway, Kasai had to dodge a large root-like object flying at her. The screaming in her ear made her practically deaf.

She was good at dodging the branches, and found that they were being controlled by the nanny, but didn't expect that they would shoot thorns at her.

As she was trying to escape and get to the girl's mother, she managed to get 40+ thorns lodged into her back. 'Why do I like this job again?' She asked herself, running as fast as she could manage and throwing fire attacks when she needed to.

She kept the girl pressed close to her, shielding her eyes to violence and hoping that it would comfort her to the point of not screaming her ears off. In the rooms that the doors were open, dead bodies littered them, and blood was everywhere. It was a slaughterhouse.

By the time she reached her mother it was too late.

The older woman was twisted and bleeding profusely, a shadow creature looming above her with scissor-like hands. A man in a butler uniform, likely her guard, lay close by.

These guys aren't joking around.

She kept the girl's eyes shielded as she went back to running down the corridor, towards a window that she planned to jump through. "You're going to be okay, trust me!" She told the young girl, and cast her molasses spell around her so that any glass wouldn't cut her.

Kasai jumped onto the wall mid run as the tree woman attacked again, and then leaped out of the window and braced for impact.

It was a three story jump, and the dragonslayer had to roll in order to reduce the impact on her legs. The girl, surprisingly, finally stopped screaming. "What about mommy?"

"She'll be fine. She has her own guard, remember?" Kasai lied, and then got hit by a nearby tree and flung into the house.

The nanny used her tree powers to descend from the same window they had jumped through, laughing haughtily with her hands on her hips.

While hunched over, Kasai breathed into her clay bugs and sent them flying.

The dragonslayer stood, fire in her left hand, and ready to burn anything that came her way.

"You can do better than that, cutie! I love the rugged, 'I'll-do-anything-to-complete-the-job-types'." She laughed, and just before she was about to manipulate the surrounding trees to attack, Kasai snapped her fingers.

The woman exploded, falling off of her root and into some bushes. Her blood spattered against the white mansion.

"It's okay, Stacey. I'm not going to let anything happen to you." She said, and threw a fireball at a shadow creature that had started to come towards them. Her legs began moving again, her body shielding the young girl from attacks and seeing what was happening.

4.

By the time she made it back into town, she was exhausted. Kasai had used pretty much all of her magic through the night, and on the edge of Magnolia, she slumped against the dining table.

They both wore cloaks, in order to be less identifiable. Luckily, Kasai kept her backpack on her at all times, which not only prevented some of the thorns from reaching her but also held some basic supplies, including cloaks.

"Coffee and toast." She told the waitress, eyeing her for any signs that she was working for the enemy.

Throughout Magnolia, she had set up 'safe places', in which she had talked to the owners and staff in the past. Basically, she gave them a gesture that they would give whenever the food was safe. If someone was poisoning the food, and let's say that the person doing it was holding their family hostage, they could comply by their request while at the same time tipping her off to it.

"Blueberry pancakes!" The little girl said enthusiastically, a grin encompassing half her face.

"I don't think I've ever seen you so happy." The red head commented, watching the little girl giggle and bounce in her seat.

"Blueberry pancakes." She repeated, causing the waitress to chuckle.

The random thought of Erza being mad at her came to mind, and she barely suppressed a groan. Her new outfit was ruined.

Although this was the second outfit that she had prepared for battle, it was already torn and covered in dirt and blood. Her white shorts were torn, both of her sleeves were lost in the fight; but remarkably, her black sports bra is intact, minus the dirt. She guessed that it was more tactical than she initially thought; albeit a little revealing, it avoided the usual damage from attacks, and she wouldn't have to replace it.

About 5 minutes later, their food arrived. The waitress returned with a huge plate of food for Kasai and a smaller plate of pancakes for the girl.

"I thought you just ordered toast?"

"She's a mind reader." She said, winking to the little girl, and then diving in.

5.

When they got to the courthouse, they were met by policemen surrounding the building.

"What happened?" Kasai asked one of the men, and although was at first not going to say anything, noticed the Fairy Tale mark on her shoulder.

"Judge was killed last night."

"Which one?" She asked, slumping her shoulders at the news.

"Judge Turnip, god bless his soul."

"He was a good guy. Any leads on who did it?"

"Sorry, can't disclose any more information about it."

"It's okay, I understand. Thank you." She said, bowing, and then turning to walk away.

"Turnip head is dead?" The little girl answered, still being held and attached her to side, somewhat hidden by the older woman's cloak.

"It seems so… I liked that guy, too." She said with a frown.

6.

"Is Makarov here?" Kasai asked Mirajane, glad to finally be around friends.

"He's out for lunch, but should be back in an hour. What happened?"

"Let's just say that there were some complications in my mission. Can you keep an eye on Stacey while I go to the infirmary?" She asked the woman, happy when she nodded.

"Of course." Mirajane answered, watching as Kasai tried to remove the girl, and flinch in the process as Stacey just held on tighter.

"Don't worry, Stacey. This is my Guild, Fairy Tale. I trust everyone here with my life, and if anyone tries to hurt you, they'll protect you." She said in a low voice, and sighed when the girl shook her head and held on tighter. Kasai eyed a familiar fire magic user on the other side of the room, and a new idea popped into her head. "You know how I use fire magic, Stacey?" She asked, and the girl nodded. "And how the shadow creatures are afraid of it?" The girl nodded. "Natsu! Can you come over here for a minute?"

Kasai waved over the young man, happy when he joyously jumped over the table and ran over to her. "Kasai! I heard you took on an entire Guild?!"

"I'm sure that whatever you heard was exaggerated."

"I'm so jealous!" He yelled, spitting fire into the air. The small girl in arms looked up at him, seeing the fire magic he was using.

"My mission isn't over. I was hoping that you could help Mirajane watch Stacey for me? I need to stop by the infirmary."

"Eh? Are you hurt?"

"Nothing too serious." She assured, and this time successfully removed the girl from her side. Kasai turned her attention to her. "This man is better at fire magic than I am, and I trust him with my life. If anyone tries to attack you, he'll protect you." She told her, and she said a meekly 'ok' while sadly looking down at her lap. Kasai ruffled her blond hair.

Lucy squealed at her adorableness in the background.

"What's her name?" Natsu asked.

"Stacey. She's a bit shy."

"Leave it to me! Nothing bad is going to happen while you're gone!"

"Do you like hot chocolate, Stacey?" Mirajane asked, and the little girl nodded.

Certain that the girl was in good hands, she slipped off to the infirmary.

7.

When she returned, her timing couldn't have been better, as the Guild Master was just returning from lunch.

"Guild Master," She greeted, and side stepped to pick up the little girl, who was on the verge of tears and extending her arms open to her. "Thank you guys for watching her."

"That's a lot of bandages," Natsu commented, noting that almost her entire body was covered in bandages, including her arm that was in a sling.

"A-a-are you o-o-ok?" The little girl asked, causing Lucy to swoon at her cuteness.

"The doctor likes to dress up his patients as mummies sometimes, so that we look more menacing to our enemies." She explained to the little girl, causing her to smile and giggle.

No one else seemed convinced, but weren't going to argue her about it.

"I heard about Judge Turnip." The Guild Master told her, a grim expression on his face. "It seems like the dark Guilds are getting more bold."

"You don't know the half of it." She said, trying not to alarm the girl in her arms, and trying to sound light-hearted. She was still partially deaf from her screaming the night before.

The dragonslayer reached into her pocket and pulled out a note for the Guild Master, relaying the events of the night before, so as to not alarm the girl. Makarov's eyes bulged, mouth agap, and after a moment, took a calming breath. "I'm glad that you made it out of there. I should have never sanctioned this mission."

"What happened?" Natsu asked, sitting on one of the bar stools with his hands behind his head. "Did your ninja past catch up to you again? Are you on the run? Are aliens after you?"

"Natsu, shut up." Lucy said, and he surprisingly stopped talking with Kasai spoke again.

"Her mother's guard probably took her mom into hiding. I couldn't find her." She lied for the girl's sake, Makarov knowing full well the opposite. "I figure my next move should be to locate her next of kin, and have them take care of her. If I can't find anyone, I have a good friend that runs an orphanage that can take care of her until we figure out a more permanent solution."

"If I had known-"

"It's okay, Guild Master. I agreed this mission knowing the risks, and I am determined to see it through. You couldn't have thought that kidnapping a Guild Master's daughter, regardless of the reason, would be easy." She said, and took a seat on one of the bar stools.

"What happened!?" Natsu yelled, looking between Kasai and the Guild Master.

"Will you shut up, boy?! Kasai, do what you think is best for the child. I'd say she's in very capable hands." The Guild Master said with a kind, reassuring smile for the girl. "Try to finish this by the end of the week, though. With the dark Guilds on the rise, I need you for other missions."

"Understood." Kasai nodded, chuckling at Natsu's annoyed face.

"As for you, Natsu," The Guild Master spoke, causing the red head to look his way. "I have a special mission for your team."

8.

After a week of traveling from relative to relative, all of whom were killed in similar fashion to the girl's mother, (including the staff of each estate) Kasai found herself on a train going to her friend's orphanage.

"I wanna stay with you." Stacey spoke, in between slurps from her smoothie. She was sitting on the opposite side of the compartment, her large brown eyes locked onto hers, and Kasai sighed.

"I'm sorry, Stacey, but that's not going to happen." She told her. "I would make a terrible parent, and I can't protect you forever."

"But you promised to _protect me_."

"And I'm going to keep that promise." Kasai replied immediately, seeing the tears begin to pool in her eyes. "The nun that we're going to has wizard training. She's a wonderful woman. She and I were friends as children, and I've never known a sweeter soul."

"Sweeter than Natsu's?" She asked, causing the red head to chuckle.

"Even sweeter than Natsu. At least, she's better at showing it. The building she and her children live in isn't that nice, but she makes sure that all of her kids are educated, loved, and well cared for." Kasai informed her. "Once things have calmed down between the Guilds and the danger is gone, I'll come back and find a better home for you."

"But I wanna stay with you." She repeated, tears now beginning to fall down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry." Kasai told her, and returned her gaze to the window. 'I hate babysitting…' she thought glumly, trying to ignore the sobbing child sitting across from her.

9.

Kasai's body grew cold as she stood there, fear encompassing her body. Guilt, anger, confusion, and a whole array of emotions made her frozen in place. "Th-th-there was no way they could have known we would be here." She muttered, her terrified gaze locked on the body of her old friend that was twisted and contorted in unnatural ways. The corpse looked like the blond girl's mother when she was killed.

"Now you have to stay with me."

The little girl said, the voice sounding creepier than anything she had ever heard.

"Stay with us." A shadow creature spoke, emerging from the shadows of the room. Upon closer inspection, Kasai realized that it was the young girl in her arms, just a shadow version.

"What the hell is this?" Kasai asked, looking between the two girls.

"Daddy wanted us as a weapon. Mommy didn't like us. _You_ like us. _We_ like you."

1.

By the time that Makarov learned the true reason that the Dark Guild was after the young girl, he had already lost contact with Kasai.

She was scheduled to check in two days ago.

The Guild Master sat there, his fist clenching around the cup handle, and glaring at the table. 'I'm going to lose one of my best wizards to a little girl?' He thought angrily.

"You're worried about Kasai?" Mirajane asked him, disrupting his thoughts.

"Yes. I fear that I've made a very foolish mistake and over-estimated her abilities."

"I wouldn't count her out just yet. She took down an entire dark Guild once, and she's determined to protect little Stacey. I'm sure that it's just taking longer than she expected."

"I learned some disturbing news just a little while ago," Makarov spoke, looking up at her with a serious expression. "The Guild isn't the one that's been killing all those people. It was the little girl."

Mirajane's eyes widened, shocked, by that knowledge. "What, that little girl? I can't believe it."

"Her father implanted unstable shadow lacrima into her as an infant, and apparently she is a powerful weapon that can manipulate human souls and combine them with shadow magic, creating dangerous poltergeists."

"Wait, so, all of those people that have been killed in the past few weeks…?"

"Are now an army of dead souls for that little girl's disposal. Given how weakened Kasai was last time we saw her… I doubt she stands a chance."

"If Stacey wanted to kill her, wouldn't she have done so sooner?" Mirajane asked, causing the master to pause and wonder. "Maybe she thinks that Kasai is her friend."

"If that's the case, we might have a chance to retrieve her…. If I was younger, I'd go after her myself and use my light magic."

"When Kasai was here last, I remember her telling Stacey that the shadow creatures didn't like fire magic." She said, suddenly remembering the conversation. "She convinced her that Natsu would protect her because he was a fire user."

"There's a possibility that Stacey was just pretending to have her shadow creatures afraid of her… but, it's the best we have."

"Hey, Mirajane! We're going to take this job, okay?" Natsu suddenly stated, showing her a flyer from the wall. His team; Erza, Lucy, and Gray, all stood behind him ready to go.

"Actually, Natsu, I have another mission for you, assuming you're up for it. This enemy may end up being the strongest you've ever faced." Makarov interrupted, causing the boy's eyes to sparkle and competitive grin to stretch his face.

"Aw yeah! I'm fired up!" He cheered happily.

"This is no time to celebrate, Natsu. Kasai is in trouble." As soon as Kasai's name left his lips, Natsu stopped cheering, and paid attention.

"Kasai? She took down an entire Guild just two weeks ago; she can handle herself."

"She's in trouble?" Erza asked, stepping forward.

"What's going on?" Lucy asked, noticing Natsu's worried face despite the confident grin.

"It turns out that the dark Guild wasn't just after Stacey because she was the Guild Master's daughter… she was also their strongest weapon." He spoke, causing Natsu to scratch at his head.

"That little girl is a weapon?"

"She was implanted with shadow lacrima as an infant, and as a result, has unique necromancer type magic. She sends shadow spirits to kill people, and then fuses those spirits to her shadows, creating poltergeist spirits."

"Well where is she!? We'll take her down!" Natsu yelled, punching his fists together.

"There's a problem: I have no idea where they are now. Kasai kept the location of her final destination a secret from everyone, to make sure that she would remain safe. The only thing she mentioned-"

"You mean the orphanage that her friend owns?" Natsu asked, causing Makarov's jaw to drop.

"I never mentioned the orphanage part! How did you know that?! Did she tell you the address!?"

"Yeah, Natsu." Happy asked, causing Natsu to stick his tongue out at him.

"Yeah, she told me in case something happened to her after she dropped her off, and she couldn't get back to help find a better home for Stacey."

"But why would she tell you, of all people? You couldn't keep a secret if your life depended on it." Lucy asked, eyeing the red head.

"That's exactly why she told me." He responded with a grin. "No one would expect me of all people to have sensitive info. Now what are we standing around for!? Let's go beat up a little girl!"

"Natsu…" Every sighed, but nonetheless followed his lead.

2.

The orphanage was pretty secluded, practically in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by rolling hills and dead crops.

They arrived using a magic car, and when they rolled up to the house, Lucy was shaking and terrified with Happy. "We're literally going to be fighting gh-gh-gh-ghosts! Will our magic even affect them?"

"Since they're bound to shadows, it should be relatively easy to make them disperse. Your whip should be fine- just make sure to not let any of them get too close." Erza explained, stepping out of the vehicle. "Our objective is to make Stacey release her control on these spirits, by any means necessary, and save Kasai."

"What happens if they get close?"

"They'll kill you, and take your soul." Erza answered, causing Lucy to start crying.

"Don't worry, Lucy. Your whip should enough to protect you." Gray comforted, but looking anxious himself as he looked at the haunted house. It was large, about three stories, and looked about the size of an apartment complex.

"We're going to get you back, Kasai," Natsu said, stepping out of the car and recovering from his motion sickness.

"Natsu, look," Erza said, pointing to the side of the house. Everyone gasped. "Those are dead bodies. Remember that this foe is extremely dangerous, and don't let your guard down no matter what."

3.

Kasai's eyes opened to the startling sight of two brown eyes staring at her.

She would have moved, but found herself immobilized by something.

When she breathed, she felt pain spread through her body. Her hands and feet were shackled.

'Right. I got beaten up pretty bad by her shadow thing.' She thought to herself, glaring at the passive, emotionless eyes staring at her.

"We like you." The shadow creature spoke from her side. "We like playing with you." The little girl held up a dolly, and the shadow creature held up a knife.

Before they could do anything else, she passed out.

"You hurt her really bad, Stacey. Now she can't play."

"Don't worry, Stacey. She just needs some more sleep… and convincing."

"Do you hear that?" The normal looking one asked, hearing yelling coming from downstairs.

"Kasai!" A masculine voice yelled, causing the woman to stir from her sleep. "Kasai!"

"Natsu…" She whispered, shaking, and looking at the door. "Natsu!" She yelled, causing the shadow creature to punch her in the stomach, and pass out again.

"Stacey," The normal looking girl started to say, but before she could finish, the shadow nodded and disappeared.

4.

"Kas-" Mid-word, Natsu was forced back by a powerful punch, sending him flying down the stairs and rolling out the front door.

"She's mine!" The shadow girl yelled, running and attacking everyone.

Natsu's fire magic was surprisingly effective against her, and as he got more and more fired up, took down more spirits. The spirits, not very strong, were easy to take down but extremely large in numbers.

The wizards also still had their magic from when they had bodies, meaning that tree magic started attacking the group early on, and began destroying the house.

"I'm going to take your soul!" The spirits screamed, throwing large branches, thorns, and anything else it could manage. The team had to escape the building in order to avoid getting crushed, along with Stacey and Kasai, who were nearing the top of a very large tree.

"Give her back to us!" Natsu yelled, running full force at the tree, but then tripping on a root.

"Natsu!" Lucy yelled, but then got caught by a root that quickly wrapped around her leg.

"She's mine! Mine, mine, mine, mine, MINE!" Stacey screamed at them, squeezing the doll in her arms and stamping her foot down.

"She's not yours to keep! After all she did to protect you, you do this to her friends!?" Erza yelled up to her, cutting away at the branches that tried to grab hold of her. Gray managed to get Lucy loose from the roots by cutting them and then creating an ice ledge for them to stand on, but the tree magic was relentless.

"I'm the only friend she needs! She's the only person to ever care about me EVER and she's going to be mine for ever and EVER!" The girl screamed, the tree magic becoming more and more wild.

"Have you asked Kasai what she wants?!" Natsu yelled up at her, his fire magic blazing and beginning to punch through the large branches attacking, gaining more and more momentum. "She is a member of Fairy Tale, and deserves the right to choose her friends!" He yelled, but then suddenly finding himself trapped inside a cocoon of wood.

"Please, don't hurt them." Kasai whispered to the girl, causing her shadow self to kick her.

"You can't tell me what to do! I love you and you're staying here!" She yelled, stamping her foot down again. "We're going to get married, have kids, and you're going to love me!"

"Is that really what you think?"

"We're going to get married and live HAPPILY EVER AFTER!"

"Sorry kid, that position is taken." Natsu said from behind her, catching her off guard. Unceremoniously, he punched the girl with his fire, causing her to fly backwards and land painfully against the tree wall behind her. She landed, unconscious, next to Kasai.

The shadow creatures disappeared, and the tree limbs stopped moving.

Kasai used her blood magic to bind the girl's hands, effectively draining her magic power to prevent further use of her ability.

Natsu kneeled in front of her, trying to assess her injuries before picking her up.

"The 'position is taken', huh?" She asked, causing him to blush and laugh.

"I couldn't think of anything better to say." He admitted. "Can you walk?"

"No." She admitted, not even bother trying to act tough.

"Kasai!" Happy cheered, flying up to them and hugging the injured woman.

"Are you okay?!" Lucy asked. "What the hell did you do to that little girl!?"

"I punched her!"

"You punched a little girl!?"

"She was using dead people to attack us- what did you think I was going to do when I got up here!?"

5.

"That may have been the creepiest mission that we've ever had." Lucy commented as they drove back to town, currently on an empty country road. Everyone was tired, but considering their assignment, were glad to be alive. It also hadn't been the most challenging of missions, but as Lucy pointed out, the creepiness of it made it difficult.

"Aye," Happy agreed.

"Definitely the creepiest mission I've ever been on." Kasai admitted, although strangely content. Since there weren't enough seats she was currently sitting on Natsu's lap, sideways and curled up, in his arms.

"Tch, it wasn't that challening. When Makarov said that it was the most challenging opponent yet, I was hoping to have more of a fight. One punch and that little girl was out cold."

"Speaking of which; does anyone feel bad that we tied her to the roof of the car?" Gray asked from the front seat.

"Nope." Everyone answered.

"Just wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one." Gray confirmed.

Kasai rested the side of her face against his chest, sighing against him and closing her eyes.

"You two are adorable." Lucy commented from the seat next to them. Happy agreed from the front, earning a glare from Natsu.

"She's on the verge of death and you're making fun of her? What kind of friend are you?"

"Hey, it was a compliment!"

"Yeah, what kind of friend are you, Lucy?" Happy joined in.

"You were just agreeing with me! Why are you taking his side!?"

"Geez Lucy, I thought you were better than that." Gray joined in, enjoying her reaction.

"You're on their side too?! Oh come on, I just said that they were cute!"

"That's not what I heard," Erza joined in, causing the young blond to go ballistic.

'She _is_ an easy target.' Kasai thought to herself, remembering Mirajane's prank on her, and then passing out.

6.

"I swear, this girl gets hurt more often than you, Natsu!" The doctor lectured, gasping and freaking out when the young woman stood up and started to get dressed with her robe still on. She flinched a few times, but otherwise showed no reaction to her injuries. "What are you doing?! You need to stay here for another week for me to monitor your vitals! Do you have nay idea how close to dying you came?!"

"Yeah, yeah," She waved off, causing Natsu to laugh as the doctor continued frantically trying to convince her to stay in the infirmary.

"That's my girl." He said proudly and smiling, "She's tougher than she looks, doctor. Don't worry so much."

"That's easy for you to say. You haven't seen all of the broken bones in her body that haven't healed near enough."

"It's like I'm going on another job. I'm just going to go home and take it easy for a while. Makarov is ordering me to stay home and rest."

"He also ordered you to listen to me!" The doctor yelled.

"Details, details." She waved off, now almost fully dressed, minus the arm that was in a sling rather than her jacket.

"You're not invincible, you know! If your spleen ruptures-"

"I've got my healing magic working on it, stop stressing."

"That's not enough. Since you won't tell me the specifics of your magic-"

"Not a chance, old man. I'm not about to tell you one of my most powerful magics."

"If it was that powerful, then how did you get so damaged in the first place?!"

"Because I had an insane 5 year old beating the hell out of me every time I gained consciousness?" She suggested, finally causing the doctor to become quiet, and then turned back to Natsu. "Ready?"

"Always." He responded, the two exchanging a look that the doctor recognized all too well.

"Stay 'safe', and don't open up _too_ many of her wounds." The doctor jested, winking at the pink-haired boy, and causing Natsu to look at him with a weird and confused expression.

"Is something wrong with your eye, old man?" He asked, causing the playful smirk to turn into a glare. "You're ready to go cliff diving, right?" Natsu asked, turning his attention back to Kasai.

"Totally." She responded, causing the doctor to start crying again.

Once they left the infirmary, they both laughed, entertained at how easy it was to push his buttons.

"Kasai, I'm glad to see you up and moving around! I'm surprised that the doctor cleared you to leave so soon." Makarov greeted, causing the pair to pause and talk to him.

"What can I say? I'm a fast healer. As long as I take it easy, I should be fine."

"Really? Because that's not what he told me. He said that you were going to need constant medical supervision for the next week, at least."

"Her healing magic is pretty awesome." Natsu offered in her defense.

"Upon further talking to the doctor, he said that you've started a habit of not listening to him and further injuring yourself. Is this true?" Makarov asked, causing her to frown.

"I have my reasons for not trusting doctors."

"You're in a Guild, now, and people depend on you. It's about time that you depend on others as well." As he spoke, he noticed that her hand was catching on fire.

"I'm fine with trusting anyone in the Guild when I'm in battle, and in turn will die defending anyone in the Fairy Tale Guild. When I need to, I make use of your doctor. But I'm not going to lie there helpless for days on end if I don't have to." She said, barely restraining herself.

"Hey, how about we get that lunch we were talking about?" Natsu asked, suddenly feeling extremely awkward. He knew why she was upset, and also knew that she was at the end of her rope physically, not to mention embarrassed by her last mission being a total bust.

"You aren't going to get better if you don't let your injuries heal." Makarov warned her, furthering her fire.

"Hey, what if I promise to make sure she's as lazy as possible?" Natsu offered.

"I understand that you empathize with her, Natsu, but you should also know from experience that injuries get worse from over use. If she's not going to stay in the infirmary willingly, we'll have to restrain her."

"Just try it." She said, her entire body suddenly being encompassed by flames, and in the process burning the non-fireproof bandages off, but keeping her clothes, jacket, and back pack in tact.

"I'm staying out of this." Natsu said, putting his hands up.

"What!?" Multiple people asked, watching him opt out and sat by the bar while he waited for it to be over.

"Natsu, you're turning down a fight!?" Gray asked incredulously.

"I fight her all the time. Besides, she fights dirty when she's backed into a corner and isn't any fun." He explained, watching his girlfriend erupt in fire and flames, probably looking a lot like he did when he was in similar situations. It was kind of cool to sit back and watch.

Makarov, just as surprised as everyone else, eyed the young boy's response to the situation.

"Come on, girl- the master just wants you to get better. Don't make us fight you." Kana tried to reason, others also beginning to circle the fire girl as well. "You're injured, and you just burned off most of you bandages. It's just a matter a time before the stitches pop, too."

"Hit me with your best shot." Kasai responded, eyeing each of the wizards around her. All of them hesitated. "Then allow me." She said, and threw down a smoke bomb.

In the chaos, she used her blood magic to create handcuffs around all the wizards that opposed her (including Makarov) and then escaped, running as fast as she could.

Once the smoke cleared, the Guild Master looked around at everyone, and discovered the weird material that was encasing their wrists and growing in strength. "Are you saying she got past ALL of you!?" He yelled, looking at each of the wizards that were on the ground on the verge of passing out, which included Erza. "Natsu, get that girl back here!"

"Nah." He responded, going back to his glass of water that Mirajane gave him.

"NATSU!" Makarov yelled, trying to get the hand cuffs off in the process and just looking silly.

"I don't get it, Natsu- she just defeated an entire Guild on her own, and you're not remotely interested in beating her in a fight?" Lucy asked him. "Usually you would be jumping at the chance to take her down."

"When she gets better, I'll fight her. But I'm not going to fight her so that she'll do what I want. If I did fight just now, she would have trapped me with that stupid magic of hers like the rest of you." He said, referring to the blood magic on everyone's wrists. Makarov and Erza were slower to be drained, given their enormous amount of magic, but the rest were out cold. "You guys are going to pass out just like the others soon. Not sure how long it'll take you though, old man."

"I'm not familiar with this type of magic." Makarov admitted, looking at the strange glowing hand cuffs. They were a different color and texture for each person, and in his case, it was bright white, like light magic.

"She picked up a ton of random spells when she worked with the monks. Most of which are ancient and forgotten, so they're difficult to predict." Natsu informed them. "Like that healing magic I mentioned earlier. You'd be surprised at how much she knows about medical stuff."

"Aaaand how do you know her style of fighting so well?" Lucy asked, smiling and taunting him.

"Who else could I practice my fire magic on? I can throw a hundred fireballs at her and not leave a scratch!" He answered easily, smiling and throwing his fiery fists in the air. "I also didn't fight her because I'm not mean. She just lost a mission to a five year old and you guys try to beat her up; I thought you guys would be more sensitive than that."

" _You're_ lecturing _us_ about sensitivity?" Erza asked, feeling her magic energy drain away, and trying desperately to get the handcuffs off of her. Just then, Makarov finally broke his.

"Erza, if you reduce magic flow to your arms and pull hard enough, you can break it. It's using your own magic to power itself." He said, but was too late, as Erza fell over. "Natsu, you knucklehead, we weren't trying to beat her up! We want her to get better and that's not going to happen if she bleeds internally!"

"That's not the way I saw it. Why are you guys so worried about her?"

"Do you have any idea how close she's come to dying several times now?" The doctor suddenly asked, entering the mess hall and confronting him. "Those stab wounds from a month ago? They were infected and nearly killed her. They haven't fully healed yet. And with the added injuries from the past few weeks, she's on the verge of death."

"Infected, huh? She seemed fine enough to take down Laxus and an entire Guild."

"Damn it Natsu, you're not a doctor!" The Guild Master yelled.

Natsu had gotten his own wounds infected in the past, and seen it happen to others, so he knew what they looked like. On top of that, since he had started sleeping with her, he'd seen those injuries himself dozens of times, and knew that the doctor was lying about them being infected. But he couldn't exactly say that out loud.

"I may not be a doctor, but I am her friend." He said, setting his glass down and standing up. "Later." He said, and started walking off.

7.

When Natsu arrived at her place that night, it was dimly lit, and he heard bath water running.

Making his arrival known, he closed the door loudly, and called out to her. "Kasai! I'm here, and so is Happy!"

"I'm in the bath!" She replied, delighted at his arrival. The door to the bathroom was open, so he casually walked in. The bubbles were so dense he couldn't see anything, so he was extra tempted to join her. "Sorry about ditching you earlier today."

"It's okay." He said, leaning against the counter. "You know, I'm pretty dirty too…"

"Subtle." She commented, giggling at his red face. "Sorry, maybe next time you can join me. I ran so much that ended up opening some of my stitches, and now some of the water is bloody."

"Speaking of injuries," He started, looking specifically at her stab injury on her right chest. It looked practically non existent, and if there was make-up on it, it would have come off from the water. "The doctor is claiming that your stab wounds are infected." He said, causing her face to scrunch up in confusion.

"Infected? It's practically healed."

"If we weren't being all secretive about our dating, I would have told him that, too." He said, frowning. "Why would he lie about something like that?"

"It could be a trap. My mother died after being poisoned, and then having a doctor claim she had an ailment, only to have her die in surgery. I watched the deal myself. He was paid to kill her."

"No one in Fairy Tale, even the doctors, would stoop that low." He said, confident in his fellow Guild Members.

"Aye!" Happy agreed, sitting on his shoulder.

"He could be a shape shifter." She suggested, causing him to frown.

"A shape shifting doctor… sounds like the butt of a joke."

"Unfortunately, I'm in no shape to fight. Friend or foe. I hope Makarov doesn't hold it against me…"

"Nah. He did tell you to break more stuff, after all. Maybe you should have punched a pillar or something." He said, causing her to laugh. "He ended up breaking the magic you used on him, and then broke it for the rest of them."

"I figured as much."

"They grilled Natsu about you for a long time." Happy told her, causing her to raise her eyebrows at him.

"Don't worry, I didn't tell them too much. Just that you use ancient magic, and it was a dick move to attack you like that."

Again, she laughed, flinching at her injuries but still happy.

1.

"Who ya shopping for?" Gray asked, popping out of nowhere and startling Natsu. The red head jumped upon seeing him, nearly dropping his fabric shopping bag.

"W-w-what makes you think I'm not shopping for me?"

"Because I've never seen you shopping here, and I come here all the time for my food." He answered, holding up his own shopping bag full of fruits and vegetables from the farmers market. "I've seen Kasai here tons of times, but never you."

"Alright, alright. I'm helping her out by shopping for her. She gave me a list and a bunch of secret codes."

"Codes?"

"Yeah. She's really paranoid about people poisoning her food. It's a total pain." He admitted, frowning at him. "Since when do you shop here for food? I've never seen you eat healthy."

"You've watched me eat a salad almost every day for the past ten years. Why would you think otherwise?"

"No, I've seen you eat a burger almost every day! Liar!"

"You're thinking of Elfman."

"Nope, pretty sure it's you."

"Anyway, what's the deal with her lately? The doc is making it out like she's going to explode if he doesn't treat her."

"Remember how the doctor told us that her stab wounds were infected?"

"Yeah."

"They're not. I looked at the wounds myself. They're pretty much healed already."

"Why would he lie about something like that? If he was going to lie, you'd think that he would think of something we couldn't visible check."

"I don't trust him. Just keep an eye on him, will ya?"

"Of course. How is Kasai doing?"

"She's tired all the time, but otherwise good. She's so healthy it makes me nauseous."

"Let her know that I can do shopping for her in the future, since I already come here all the time. Or if she needs anything else…"

"Yeah, yeah," Natsu waved off, walking away from him and trying to locate the next thing on his list. Gray yelled at his back, annoyed that he just walked while he was talking, but was too lazy to go after him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** Gah, sorry again for a late update. The last few weeks have been hectic. T_T

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

 _Stench_

"I'm sorry, Natsu, but Master Makarov specifically forbade me from approving missions for Kasai."

"But I won't even be getting the award money. In fact, I won't even be doing anything. I'll just be sitting on the sidelines, cheering them on." Kasai tried to convince Mirajane, smiling sweetly at her.

"But imagine how many buildings we could explode and-ow!" He yelled, getting kicked in the leg as a sweatdrop appeared on Mirajane's head.

"Sorry guys, rules are rules."

"But if I'm as injured as you guys think, Natsu is best person to be around!" She argued, causing another sweatdrop to appear on her head.

"The guy that wants to blow up buildings is the best person to help your ailments."

"Fire is the only magic I can directly convert into healing magic."

"The only way you're going to get any more work is if the doctor clears you. Sorry, rules are rules." She said, causing both of them to glare as she walked away.

"Really? You had to bring up exploding buildings?"

"Tell me with a straight face that you weren't thinking about it, too?" He asked, causing her to smile. "Knew it!"

"Hey, Natsu, come here a minute!" Lucy called over, causing him to run over to his group. Kasai sighed, wishing she could join him on his mission, when suddenly a note was passed to her. Kana, only a few seats away from her, winked, and then walked away.

The red head, looking around first to make sure no one was watching, looked down at the note. 'Want to join me for a mission? Meet me at the Sunflower at noon tomorrow.'

She looked up, locking eyes with the woman, and smiled at her.

1.

"I'm glad you showed." Kana greeted, looking up at the red head with a kind smile. "I thought you might not make it."

"I'm on time, aren't I?" She asked, taking a seat across from the woman and setting her back pack on the floor.

"Yeah, I just suspected you only wanted to do a mission with Natsu. Aside from Erza, you haven't done missions with anyone else since you joined."

"Not by choice. Ever since I joined, Makarov has been sending me on a bunch of random missions, varying in difficulty. It's ironic that he's being so overprotective now, since I was pretty badly injured on most of those missions."

"Don't be too harsh on him. He was pretty worried when he heard that you were in danger."

"So what's the mission?" She asked, trying to change the topic of conversation.

"Bounty." She said, pulling out the flyer for the job and handing it to her. "Officially, I'm the only one on the job, but I'll split the money fifty/fifty."

"Sounds fun." Kasai responded, looking forward to the mission with her. She may drink a lot, but from what she knew of her, she would be a lot more tame than Natsu or Erza.

2.

Kana was punching left and right, continuing the fight that she just started, and yelling insults all over the place to make the drunk men more angry.

"Where is Komagagi?" She yelled at a random person, and then punched him in the face.

"Kagomi." Kasai corrected from the sidelines, watching as the entire bar erupted into drunk fights, slurs, and curses. "Thank god she never pulled this at my bar…" The red head sighed, albeit slightly impressed by the damage the scrawny woman was causing.

"Come on, fire girl! Join the fun!"

"You seem to have it under control." She declined, sighing at all the unnecessary violence.

"So you guys are looking for Kagomi?" A voice suddenly asked from her side, and Kasai looked over to see a short man wearing a purple dress. His hair, very blonde and curled up cutely, also looked extremely flammable.

The memory of accidentally setting her friend's hair on fire as a child popped into her mind, making her chuckle. "Uh, yeah. Have you seen him?"

"Yes, and if you get that girl to stop beating up my best customers, I'll tell you everything I know."

3.

When they returned to the Guild, Kana kept up her end of the deal by giving her half the money, even though Kasai had done all of the work. The dragonslayer was glad for the mission, but couldn't help but feel gipped, since Kana spent most of the time getting drunk, bar fighting, and then getting laid.

"We should work together again sometime!"

"Sure." Kasai answered, waving goodbye as they parted ways, and then returning her hands to her pockets.

The red head sighed, ready to go home and sleep.

"Taiyo!" A random voice screamed, causing the woman to sigh and easily side step a sword swung in her direction.

A woman, clad in black clothing and samarai sword, lunged at her again. "Your footwork is sloppy." Kasai said, and then kicked her in the face. "So much for Makarov taking care of you guys…" She muttered, not surprised when the girl got up and lunged at her again.

As annoying as it was to have random people attack her in the streets, she enjoyed practicing her martial arts on them. In this case, she didn't bother using her hands, and was challenging herself to only using her feet, since the opponent clearly needed some lessons. "How are you dodging all of my attacks?!" She yelled, annoyed, until suddenly her sword stopped moving with a loud 'ka-thunk', landing in a tree.

Using the distraction, Kasai then kicked her in the chest, causing her to fall backwards without her blade.

"I'm at the top of my class… how did you dodge all of my attacks like that!?" She yelled, causing the other to smile awkwardly.

"Practice." She said simply. "Next time, don't announce that you're going to attack me. It makes it easier to dodge."

"'Next time', you're gonna lose!" The young girl yelled at her retreating form, and then ran to the tree to get her sword unstuck.

4.

The next few days were boring and made Kasai antsy.

She wasn't allowed to work any jobs, and that included working the bar. If she went much longer without work, she'd have to go back to the Sunflower, which sounded horrid now that she was a full-fledged wizard.

Before the job with Kana, she had spent two weeks recouping her strength. Now it's been almost a month since she refused to see the doctor, and the only action she's seen is from bounty hunters, which have been increasing in number.

There was no one at the Guild to hang out with and talk. Practically everyone was gone for a mission.

She was contemplating reading one of her old spell books by the pool, like she would with Levy, but that seemed weird to do without her. So now, she was awkwardly eating alone in the Guild hall, with only a few people scattered around that had no interest in talking to her.

But then… she smelled something.

A scent.

A scent that she hadn't smelled in 5 years.

"Taiyo," The doctor spoke as he approached her, a kind smile on his face. "That's your real name, isn't it? I hope you don't mind, I was-"

"You forgot to do something today, shape shifter." She glared, standing up and watching his eyes widen in fear. "I can smell you. And after 5 years, I haven't forgotten your stench." The red head stated, watching his body stiffen and then start to shake. "But guess what?" She asked.

"W-what?"

"I was raised to forgive people." She said, suddenly becoming cheerful and smiling. "If you tell the Guild Master that you resign, I won't tell everyone in the Guild what you did."

"I… I don't know what to say."

"Did he hire you?" She asked, looking serious again.

Not having to specify who she was talking about, he awkwardly nodded.

"You know what? Maybe it's a good thing that Makarov forbid me from working. I think I've got some personal business to take care of." She said, grabbing her backpack from the chair next to her. "If you're not gone by the time I get back… well, I'll leave that to your imagination." She said, giving him a glare and causing him to squeak in fear. She laughed, and then turned away.

"Hey Kasai, where are you going?" Mirajane asked from behind the bar, unsettled by the unusual interaction she saw between the two.

"Personal business." She said, and waved as she left.

The white-haired woman had a bad feeling, but not knowing what to do, just watched her go.

5.

She found his mansion easily. She had known where he lived for years and kept tabs on the rich man, but had never actually been there before. In the past, she had been afraid that she wasn't strong enough, or afraid that she might be too strong and accidentally kill him.

Something about seeing that doctor again made her think otherwise. If she could look at the man that killed her mother, she should be able to do the same for the man that ordered the execution.

Although the gates were closed, she easily pushed them open and proceeded through the courtyard.

"Do you have an appointment with Mr. Tanashimi?" A man asked, clad in a security uniform.

"He's been trying to make one with me for the past 5 years." She told him candidly, a little disappointed when he didn't look surprised or shocked at her appearance.

"Miss Kitski, I presume?"

"Yes." She replied, surprised at his calm demeanor.

"Right this way. I'll take you to him." He said, walking towards the mansion. Cautiously, she followed, not entirely sure what was waiting for her inside those doors.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Behind Closed Doors

"Taiyo Mitsiki… you're just as beautiful as your mother." The man stated, a creepy smile on his face. He looked like a business man, sitting behind his desk and the wall of windows behind him. Not a hair out of place.

The red head felt uncomfortable, but stayed unmoving. "I know that you killed my mother."

"I don't know what you're talking about. She was the love of my life. I was devastated by her death."

"You weren't the love of hers, if I recall." Kasai replied, watching the man lose his composure and turn from pleasant to angry; a single hair now out of place, sticking out at a weird angle on his head.

"You little bitch." He growled, visibly contemplating having his guards kill her on the spot. But then, suddenly, he sat back up and recomposed himself. "If you become my wife, I will make sure that the bounty on your head disappears."

"Your wife? In your dreams." She snorted, disgusted by the 40 year old man. "I've come to tell you that I'm tired of your pathetic assassins trying to kill me. I'm also tired of your shapeshifting doctors trying to get their hands on my organs." The red head stated, noticing the shift in his stature at the mention of the doctor. "Honestly, I'm tired of it. I've come here today to ask you to stop. Otherwise, I will retaliate."

"You were raised by monks. I doubt you have interest in killing me." He said cockily and laughing, but then silencing when he saw the fire in her hand.

"I don't need to kill you to retaliate." She said simply, causing him to gulp. The men behind her started to move, but their boss indicated for them to stop. "I'm part of the Fairy Tale Guild, and if I asked them to, they wouldn't hesitate to take you down."

"Ha, right. Your Guild Master, 'Makarov', came in here a month or so ago. He made the same threat." He said, surprising her. "You might want to coordinate your threats in the future."

"Judging by the fact that assassins have continued attacking me, I can only assume that my Master wasn't persuasive enough." She said, causing her other hand to become engulfed in flames. "You murdered my mother, and my only request is that you stop sending assassins after me."

Tanashimi made a gesture with his hands, indicating for the men behind her to attack her.

They were unconscious on the ground in the blink of an eye.

"I've just alerted the entire compound to your arrival." He told her, smiling.

She stepped closer, and raised her hand level to his head.

His smile froze.

"This is for killing my mother." She said, and sent a fireball at his face, causing him to scream in agony as he fell onto the carpet floor.

Then she ran, excitement filling her at what enemies she would have to fight next.

'I may be running, but now I'm running in the opposite direction!' she thought, taking down her first opponent with a swift kick to the head.

1.

"THAT was fucking AWESOME!" She cheered, half an hour later, after tearing apart practically the entire mansion. She felt pumped. She had a 'fire in her belly' and nothing was going to extinguish it!

Natsu and his team were scheduled to be back today.

"I should fight Natsu next!" She spoke to herself, and then started running towards the Guild Hall.

2.

"Geez, what's got you all fired up?" Natsu asked, watching her hop around excitedly waiting for him to get into a fighting stance.

"I may or may not have burned the face off of the guy that killed my mom." She said quickly, making all of them think for a second to process all of the information.

"Wait, the Tana guy? You took him out!?"

"Yeah! And all of his guards, too! I've never felt so exhilarated in my life!"

"You did what?!" The Guild Master yelled from nearby, spitting out his drink in the process. "I told you that I would handle that!"

"Aaaand you didn't. So, with all the free time you've given me," She said pointedly. "I decided to confront him."

"So you thought attacking him was the best answer?"

"Better than hiding for the rest of my life." She said with a shrug. "If you decide to kick me out of the Guild, I understand, but it was worth it." She admitted, smiling and still hyped up on the adrenaline pumping through her veins, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Geez, you take down one Guild and you suddenly think you can take down anyone…" Gray spoke, causing the girl to chuckle.

"You haven't learned anything from this experience, have you?" Makarov asked, looking at the young girl that suddenly looked like Natsu's twin.

"Of course I did! I learned that I was right!" She cheered, causing everyone except Natsu to sigh and shake their head.

3.

Sex was great that night.

Instead of fighting, Natsu voted that they go to the bedroom to work off her extra energy, and the prolonged lack of contact made them practically animalistic.

4.

"What's with you, Natsu? I've never seen you so happy." Lucy commented the next day, noticing his extra positive energy. He had gotten them a job that day, offering to help Lucy get her rent money… again, and seemed extremely excited about it.

"I just slept really well last night." He answered, causing Happy to make a sarcastic 'uh-huh' sound, which peaked everyone's interest.

"What do you think happened, Happy?" Lucy asked.

"I dunno." He said with a shrug, but all knowing smirk on his face.

"Shouldn't you be more focused on this awesome job I got us to pay your rent?" Natsu asked, trying to derail the conversation.

"He and Kasai have been getting pretty close." Gray commented, causing Natsu to laugh. "Maybe they're secretly dating, and that's why he's so happy."

"He has been in unusually high spirits since she joined the Guild…" Lucy commented.

"And he has been avoiding missions a lot lately…" Gray added. "And he did her shopping when she was sick."

"Maybe I just like to fight her, you ever think about that?" He asked, slightly annoyed, but still in good spirits. "And I would do shopping for Lucy if she asked! Her fridge usually has crappy food, anyway."

"Hey! If you don't like my food, don't sneak into my house and eat it!"

"Where else am I going to eat and work out?"

"You sneak into Lucy's house? And people call me the perv?"

"Yeah." Natsu said, pointing at now half-naked Gray, which caused him to freak out.

"Well, you could go to Kasai's house, for one."

"That would be rude to just barge in there when she's not home."

"YOU DO THAT TO ME ALL THE TIME!"

"But I help pay your rent." He said, smiling as he held up the flyer to her. She then groaned, muttered something about him being 'hopeless', and went back to walking towards the restaurant.

5.

"So, have the assassins stopped attacking you?" Makarov asked when Kasai came to the Guild the next day, covered in small scratches and looking like she had just fought off a large group of wizards.

"No." She sighed, slumping her shoulders. "Apparently he raised my bounty."

"What did you expect when you burned half his face off? That he would just let bigons be bigons?"

"I didn't actually hurt him that bad. The burns were superficial and should heal naturally over the next few months. Even if I hit him harder than I thought, he's got so much money he'll look like his normal creepy self in no time." She reasoned.

"I never asked, because I wanted to respect your privacy… but why is he after you? Why is he so determined? Usually when I threaten to send a Guild of wizards after them, they back down pretty quickly."

"I don't know the whole story. Just that my mom turned down his proposal and that she ended up dead a week later."

"I'm guessing he sent an assassin after her?"

"He had her food poisoned, and when she got to the hospital, a doctor was paid to kill her during surgery and make it look like she died of a stroke." She explained, and suddenly it clicked for him.

"So that's why you don't want to see the doctor here?"

"Pretty much."

"I see…. What if I had you checked up by a healer that I have known for years?" He asked, causing her to raise her eyebrows.

"Oh?"

"I trust her more than anyone. She's pretty reclusive, and doesn't like people, but I may be able to convince her to see you. She's extremely powerful."

"How long have you known her?"

"Almost my entire life." He replied, happy to see that she was considering it.

"Alright…" She agreed, reluctantly, and looked over by the door in time to see a familiar face walking towards them. Or, half of one, at least.

"Hello again, Guild Master of Fairy Tale," Tanashimi greeted, a red-headed woman on his arm looking remarkably like Kasai. "I'd like you to meet Kasai's mother." He said, causing the younger red head to snort.

"This was the best you could come up with? Grabbing a prostitute with red hair and claiming she's my mom?" Kasai spoke asked, surprisingly calm for the situation. She kept her hands in her pockets, and leaned against the bar near Makarov.

"I am your mother, sweetie." She spoke, about to step forward, but stopping when Kasai blew a very small pillar of fire her way. The woman clung to the business man, causing Kasai to chuckle. Her face may have resembled her mother, but everything about her was wrong.

Her mother was a dragonslayer, and more powerful than anyone she had known. She had a commanding presence, and even though she broke things a lot, she had a heart of gold and would always help clean up any damage she made. She had a sparkle in her eye that Kasai would never forget; a fire deep inside her that could only be extinguished by death.

This woman before her was pale and frail, with no light in her eyes. She looked like a hollow shell, wearing a skimpy red dress and needle marks on her forearms.

"My mom was a dragonslayer."

"I'm a celestial wizard that specializes in fire based spirits." She answered, seeming awkward and unsure of herself.

Kasai knew that she should be more angry at the man that is making her pretend to be her mother, but she couldn't help but think about how pathetic she looked in comparison.

"I have the papers documenting Ms. Kitski giving up her daughter to a monastery when she was 4, along with papers for a successful surgery performed on her. I am not going to press charges, but instead want this young woman to get the help she needs. I'm willing to pay for her admittance to the best mental hospital in Fiore." He spoke, handing them to her Guild Master.

Skeptical, the Guild Master looked at the documents, frowning when he saw the official seals on them. "These are official documents."

"Nothing a shapeshifter couldn't accomplish." Kasai answered coolly, her eyes locked on the skeleton woman before her.

"You need help." The business man stated calmly, and seemingly genuine. If she didn't know for a fact he was lying, she might believe him herself. "I won't press charges. You're just a lost, misunderstood girl that misses her mom. I hope that you can get past your delusions and reconnect with her."

"So all of those assassins that said you sent them were lying? Or the reward posters saying that you will pay whoever brings you my head?" She asked, trying to bring up tangible evidence.

"Someone is obviously using my name without my permission. I'm having my people try to remove that and find whoever is responsible. I don't like having my name associated with these sorts of things."

"And it's just a coincidence that the bounty was raised after I talked to you yesterday?"

"I don't know. All I know is that your mother is here, wanting to reconnect with her daughter she lost all those years ago." He said, bowed his head, and then walked out of the Guild, leaving the imposter there.

"That's quite the bold move." Makarov stated. "And performance. Who are you, really?" He turned to the skeleton woman before them, eyeing her up and down.

The entire Guild Hall was whispering with rumors, making Kasai frown. "Great. I can already sense the rumor mill running."

"I'm her mother, Maki Kitski." She said, bowing.

"I met Kasai's mother years ago. I can vouch for her being a dragonslayer."

"Perhaps you are remembering someone else, then. Kasai could have met her and, since I wasn't there, assumed it was her mother."

"This is stupid. I'm going to the monastery and find something to prove this is crap." Kasai, finally having enough, jumped up from her seat and started walking away.

The skeleton woman reached out, grabbing her wrist. "Please, daughter," She whimpered, causing Kasai to turn, grab her wrist, and twist her arm so that she would fall to her knees. She started crying.

When Kasai was young, her mother would punch her whenever she cried. It was a sign of weakness that wouldn't be tolerated by a dragonslayer's daughter.

"You are dishonoring my mother by taking her name. She was a proud warrior, and you're just a pathetic drug addict." She said, referring to the needle marks on her arm, and then shoved her away.

The older woman looked so weak and defenseless, Kasai probably looked like a huge jerk treating her that way.

But she didn't care.

"Hey, Kasai!" Natsu waved as he and his team entered the Guild Hall. His teammates looked on the verge of passing out, panting hard as if they had been running.

"I'm going to my childhood home. Want to come along?" She asked, trying to sound light-hearted, but failing.

Natsu, noticing all the eyes on them, wondered what the old woman on the floor was about. "Uh… sure?" He replied, confused.

"Do you want us to join you?" Lucy asked, referring to the rest of Natsu's team.

"The more witnesses, the better. It's a three day journey. Whoever wants to go, be ready at 6 AM tomorrow morning at the train station." She said, and stormed out of the building.

"What was that about?" Gray asked, and Makarov sighed.

"This woman is claiming to be her mother." The Guild Master said, watching as the woman stood up.

"Cool! You must know tons of awesome fire magic! When was the last time you saw Igneel?!" Natsu asked, exploding with questions for her. "Why did you pretend to be dead?"

"I'm not a dragonslayer." She said, awkwardly putting her hands up in defense.

"Eew, you also don't smell good. You stink." He said, pinching his nose and causing her to glare at him.

"Natsu, that's rude!" Lucy said, punching him in the arm.

"What?! It's not actually her mom!" The pink-haired boy replied, still pinching his nose.

"Yes, I am. Kasai is a very troubled girl."

"So you're saying that she just made up having a dragonslayer mom?" He asked, skeptically. "She 'made up' dragonslayer magic?"

"When she was little, she accidentally ate this strange material… it gave her her fire powers."

"No wonder she was upset. I'm going to go talk to her before she destroys another building."

"Natsu, if she was destroying a building, you'd destroy another one just for fun." Gray said, surprised when Natsu only waved him off instead of punching him like usual.

6.

"I don't know how you kept from beating the hell out of that guy a second time." Natsu said, watching her pack with Happy.

"I'll bet the rest of the Guild is pretty upset. First he attacks you, then he accuses you of being insane?" Happy spoke, silently wondering if Makarov was going to launch an attack or not. "Fairy Tale tends to be pretty protective of its wizards."

Kasai sighed, falling back and sitting against the wall opposite of her bed. "But hey," Natsu started, "It'll be nice to see all your old friends, won't it? Hasn't it been 5 years since you've seen them?"

"Something like that…" She said, a smile tugging at her lips. "I can't wait to see Star… or Comet! They were twins that I loved fighting with."

"Are they strong?"

"Yeah. They would use combo attacks that were amazing." She said, remembering back to the last time she fought them. "They used celestial magic, but weren't celestial wizards in the technical sense. They used magic derived from the celestial world to power their attacks."

"Can't wait to fight 'em!" Natsu said, punching his palm. "Hey, what are we waiting for? Why don't we head out tonight?"

"Eh? Tonight?"

"You're already packed, and I don't need to get anything. I'd say we're ready to go right now."

"What about Lucy and Gray?"

"They'll understand. Besides- you and I haven't been able to go on a mission yet." He said, grinning widely. "Think about how awesome of a team we'd be?"

"You're thinking about blowing stuff up again, aren't you?"

"So much fire!" He said, already lost in his own world and laughing maniacally.

"Alright… we can leave tonight." She said, watching him and Happy do a little 'happy dance'.

7.

Three days later, they arrived at the temple, much to Natsu's relief.

He hated the train. And car. And, well, he hated all modes of transportation, really.

"Woohoo! We made it!" He cheered, jumping out of the taxi and pumping his fists into the air, along with shooting out fire.

"Wow, those are some crazy plants!" Happy commented, looking at the huge thorns covering the gate they walked past.

"There's Master Shivatsu!" Kasai said happily, and pointing to an old man sweeping towards the side of the main building.

But… something was off to the dragonslayer. Her eyes were looking around the area, and it wasn't how she remembered it.

Everything was overgrown.

"Is that you, Kasai?" The old man asked as he neared them, his bald head shining against the bright sun.

"Yes, Master Shivatsu." She said, bowing her head and pulling Natsu down to do the same thing.

"There's no need, child… a lot has changed since you left." He said, a sadness plaguing his expression.

"Where's the Comet and Star guy? I wanna fight!" Natsu exclaimed excitedly, shooting more fire into the air.

"Another fire magic user?" The old man asked, chuckling.

"I noticed that the gardens are overgrown. What happened to Katsu?" She asked, referring to the young monk that kept the gardens well kept and managed. The gardens used to be renowned, a place that tourists loved to visit and gaze at the most beautiful flowers in pristine condition. Katsu used to scold her and the other children whenever they endangered any of the plant life.

"Would you two like some tea?" The old man asked.

"But I wanna fight people…"

"Natsu, don't be rude. We'd love some tea." She accepted, bowing again. As they started walking.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

 _Cupid's Letter_

"It's a good thing you guys didn't go. It was depressing as hell." Natsu told his friends when he returned, slouching in his seat and propping his face up with his arm. "Apparently the monks had a 'civil war' or something, and slaughtered each other. The survivors mostly left, except for this one old guy."

"Wait, all of the monks were dead?" Gray clarified, and Natsu nodded.

"We found a picture of Kasai with all the monks and her mother just before she left, which proves her side of the story… I gave a copy of it to Makarov when we got back." Explained, all the people around him awkwardly looking away.

"None of us believed that she was crazy or lying to us. After you guys left, Makarov led a full assault against the guy. If you hadn't left, you could have joined us."

"WHAT!? YOU GUYS GOT TO BEAT HIM UP?!" Natsu yelled, grabbing Gray by the collar. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!?"

"You left before we could!"

"Natsu," Lucy spoke, "Where is she now?"

The question temporarily derailed Natsu's impending fist to gray's face. "She's studying ancient magic that she got from the library there… She wasn't allowed to take any of the scrolls with her, so she copied them down and has been obsessing over them since she got back." After he answered her, he punched Gray in the face.

"Man, that's rough." Kana commented.

"She's handling it like a real MAN!" Elfman stated with tears in his eyes.

"You know she's a woman, right?" Lucy asked.

"She's probably by the pool area… I'm going to see if I can help her decode the magic." Levy stated, and stood up from the table.

1.

Kasai hated all the stares she was getting. She didn't mind people knowing what happened, but it would be nice if they didn't have to _stare_ at her so openly. Even though she was involved with her notes, it was distracting.

Levy had offered to help, but she turned it down. The wizard also informed her about their attack on her behalf, but not knowing how to react, she simply didn't.

She needed to translate and decipher everything on her own.

Most of what she copied was from texts on blood magic, which in order for Levy to help, she'd have to teach her in depth a variety of ancient magics in order to gain any sense of understanding or be useful. Realistically the only person that could help her was the Master Shivatsu, and she couldn't work up the nerve to ask him after everything he had been through.

"Come on, why do I have to do it? Can't we just leave her alone?" Kasai heard Lucy say from nearby, obviously talking to someone that was pushing her into something.

"She's just been sitting there for 4 hours. She obviously needs a friend." Gray responded, and when the red head looked up from her notes and stared at them, the group froze.

"If you guys are worried about me, I'm fine. I'd like to read in peace." She said, and without waiting for a response, went back to her notes.

2.

"Hi! Are you the famous Gecko?" A man asked her a few days later, approaching the young girl while she was studying.

"'Gecko'?" She asked, looking up and causing him to swoon.

"It is you! I didn't get to interview you last time I was here!" The blond man said as he reached a hand out for her to shake.

"'Gecko'?" She repeated, giving him a weird look, but nonetheless shaking his hand politely.

"It's what people are calling you!" He said, smiling widely. "I'm from Sorceror Weekly, I'm here to interview you and Natsu for the 'Wizards Cutest Couples' issue! It's going to be so awesome!" He said, causing her to frown.

"Who told you that we were dating?" She asked, eyes widening when he pulled out the picture Happy took months ago. The picture, thankfully not showing anything inappropriate, was actually a pretty cute picture of her and Natsu's first night together. Cuddling, that is. "I, uh…"

"The Gecko and the Salamander- so cute!" He wiggled. "I love that guy! Don't you?" He asked, causing her to narrow his eyes at him.

"He's a great sparring partner."

"Is that what you kids call it nowadays?" He asked, causing her face to turn red.

"Have you talked to Natsu yet?"

"He usually punches me every chance he gets, so I thought I'd talk to you first! I'd love to get some couple shots of you together!" He said, smiling, and following her when she got up to leave. "How long have you two been dating?"

"Not happening."

"When was the first time you kissed?"

"Bye." She waved, still walking away, and still having him follow her. Once she found Natsu, she got his attention, and then pointed at the blond guy. As she guessed, as soon as their eyes met, Natsu was angry and running at them ready to beat him up.

"The famous Salamander!" The blond guy squealed while Natsu grabbed his collar and shook him violently.

"What the hell are you doing here after posting that crap about me in the magazine, HUH?!" He yelled, ready to beat him up.

Then, he held up a picture of them sleeping together, and his face turned red. He grabbed it and burned it in his hand. "I have more copies. You two are adorable."

"Why the hell did you tell him? I thought we agreed to keep 'us' a secret." He whispered to her, unfortunately loud enough for the reporter to hear.

"I didn't say anything." She said with a shrug.

"So it is true! The two lizard wizards are together!" He said, hearts appearing in his eyes and somehow slipping from Natsu's grasp. "A picture for the magazine?" He asked, suddenly taking pictures of them glaring at him, and Natsu trying to attack him.

"There's no point in hiding it, Kasai. Everyone knows you and Natsu are a couple." Mirajane spoke, walking up to her. The reporter continued running from Natsu, who seemed hellbent on breaking his neck.

"Natsu and Kasai are together!? No way!" Elfman exclaimed from nearby, causing Kasai to face palm.

In the chaos, Natsu accidentally knocked over Erza's slice of cake, causing her to join in the chaos. Soon enough, the entire room was filled with magic and fists punching each other out.

Mirajane and Kasai stood on the sidelines, sweat drops appearing on the sides of their heads.

"You think I'm dating _him_?" She asked, watching her boyfriend punch and attack multiple people, no longer discriminating against who he was attacking and just enjoying the fight.

"Yep." She said, smiling and laughing.

"He's not man enough to have a girlfriend." Elfman stated from nearby, not yet joined in the fight. "He still dances on tables and picks fights with everyone!" He said, but before either of the girls could reply, a chair flew at Elfman, officially inviting him to the fight. "WHO THREW THAT CHAIR?!"

"I'll admit. You two have hid it better than most people in the Guild when they date. But you had to know that you couldn't hide it forever." She said, then barely dodged a shoe thrown at her head.

"Sorry Mirajane!"

"It's okay!" She replied. "And you two are a cute couple. I'm not surprised that _Sorcerer Weekly_ wants to feature you. It's pretty rare that two dragonslayers date."

"So how long _have_ you been dating?" The reporter suddenly asked, appearing out of nowhere.

"Get back here!" Natsu yelled, charging at him and causing him to run again.

"In a strange way, this reminds me of the monastery." Kasai suddenly spoke, talking to the white-haired woman again. "They would never be this rowdy, but when you looked closely, you could tell that most of the people wanted to break out in a fight just by looking at them. They would give each other silent glares from across the room all through the meal, and afterwards, they'd go back outside and fight it out."

"They sound interesting. You must miss them."

"Yeah…" She said, and then another shoe flew at them, but Kasai didn't move in time to dodge it.

Instead, she caught midflight, just before it would have hit her face.

"… who the hell threw this at me!?" She yelled, just like Elfman had, and joined in the fight.

3.

When the 'couples issue' came out, everyone got a copy in order to look at what was said about the 'wizard lizard couple'.

"Hey, Kasai. We're apparently 'Fairy Tale's hottest couple'." Natsu said as he sat down next to her, surprisingly chipper. "They didn't really say much, and they used the photo of sleeping, but they also used a cool photo of us fighting." He said, showing her the magazine. The page in particular covered two whole pages, and was set in the fight from a week ago.

Everyone was blurry except them. Their hands were on fire, both of them were smiling, and on the verge of punching each other. On each side, was a little description of both of them, listing some of their accomplishments.

"Not a bad picture." She said, glad that it was a good angle of her.

"Have you seen our fans yet? They're pretty creepy."

"Yeah, although I had a weird mix. Half the people were angry that I was dating you, and the other half wanted us to get married. And then they started fighting." She explained, and he started laughing.

"So, what do you think? Deny it?"

"Nah. It would be a pain to try and prove we're not dating now." The red head replied. "What do you think?"

"Same. Although the fan girls are starting to creep me out…." He said, referring to the group of girls that had been slowly creeping towards them, using bushes to hide themselves.

"Agreed. Let's go get some lunch." She said, gathering her belongings and putting her notes back in her back pack.

"And since we're being open about us dating…" He said, and placed a small, gentle kiss on her lips. She pulled away, smiling and blushing. The girls in the bushes all squealed and screamed, causing them to jump.

"That's going to get old quick."

4.

"So you guys are finally out, huh?" Lucy asked, smiling and blushing at them.

"We've been together basically since she joined Fairy Tale." Natsu admitted, acting like it was no big deal.

"I wanted people to know me as wizard, rather than Natsu's girlfriend." Kasai stated a bit awkward.

"I'm surprised at how much publicity you two have gotten. You two even have _fans_." She said, referring to the group of people that had been following them around for the past couple days.

"Yeah…" They said together. "Hopefully they get bored and leave us alone."

"I still can't believe that you're dating this loser. I mean, we all joked about you guys hooking up, but I didn't actually believe it." Gray said, earning a glare from Natsu.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean, ice princess? You think I'm not good enough for her?" Natsu responded, ready to fight the ice maker. He'd felt more on edge since the magazine came out than usual, was definitely up for a fight.

"When you first told me, I thought you just had a crush on him. I didn't know that you guys were actually a couple." Lucy admitted, causing the glare to turn towards Kasai.

"You told Lucy?!" He yelled, redirecting his anger at her.

"Only because she was freaking out over _you_ liking her." She said defensively, getting ready for a fight.

"Why would she think I liked her?"

"Can we not talk about this?" Lucy asked, not wanting to remember that horrible day.

"Mirajane was messing with her head and making her think that you liked her. She was practically crying."

"So you _told her_ about us!?" He yelled, causing 'ooh's and 'awe's from the fan group.

"Come on, it's Lucy! And Mirajane has known about us for months, and I sure as hell didn't tell her."

"She says that about everyone! She's bound to get one right sooner or later!"

"I think you two are forgetting the biggest blabbermouth of them all." Lucy interjected, pointing to Happy and causing them to channel their anger towards him. Happy froze.

"Traitor!" The blue cat yelled to Lucy, and tried to fly away, but Natsu was faster and grabbed his tail.

"What does she mean by that?"

"Didn't you guys wonder who sent in the sleeping picture of you guys? Happy was the one that took them, and gave them out months ago. At the time, everyone just thought it was photoshopped, so they didn't think much of it." Lucy explained, causing Happy to cry.

"Why'd you have to ruin it for me, Lucy? I thought we were friends!?" Happy cried, trying to get away from the two dragonslayers glaring at him.

"… somehow, I'm not surprised." Kasai commented, not nearly as upset as Natsu was.

"Do you have any idea what a pain it was to keep that secret!? And you sent in pictures to a MAGAZINE!?"

5.

"I think I'm going to sleep some more." Kasai grumbled one day, not wanting to get out of bed.

Natsu, already dressed, stood by the doorway of her room confused. "But… we already slept a ton. Don't you want to go on a job?"

She didn't say anything.

"Are you still down about the whole magazine thing?" He asked, going back to the bed and climbing on it, slowly making his way to her so that he was on top of her. His stomach met her hip, and knees were on each side of her. The pink-haired man leaned over, getting his face close to hers, and nuzzling her cheek with his nose. "Talk to me."

"I'm just tired."

He nuzzled her again, with slightly more pressure. "What's wrong?"

"Everyone I grew up with… is dead." She whispered, tears falling from her eyes.

"But you have tons of friends that are alive… and I'm here." He said, nuzzling more of his face into hers. His face was beginning to get wet from her tears, and her sobs were bumping against him. "I don't like when you cry…."

"I'm sorry." She sobbed, crying more.

"When you cry, I cry." He said, his own tears beginning to mix with hers. "Now we're both crying."

"Why is everyone crying!?" Happy asked, entering the room.

"I'm crying because she's crying!" Natsu said, sitting up and looking at Happy. He sat on her legs, shaking slightly from his sobs.

"But if you cry, I'm going to cry!"

"It's an epidemic of crying proportions! We have to warn everyone before they start crying too!"

"But I'm too sad to warn everyone!"

"I am too! What are we going to do?"

"I'm too young to die!" Happy sobbed, landing on Kasai's bobbing arm.

"Hang in there, little buddy!" Natsu said between tears, pulling him into a hug.

Beneath his weight, Kasai laughed through the tears, feeling better at knowing that she had such great friends to support her. "Y-y-y-you guys… goofballs." She choked, causing them to pause in their theatrics to smile.

1.

"Who should I do my next mission with…?" Wendy asked Carla, both of them looking at the request board again.

"'Wendy', right?"

The blue-haired hair turned around, coming face to face with Kasai, a woman that she hadn't officially met yet. "Yeah…. You're Natsu's girlfriend… Kasai, right?"

"Yeah. Sorry we haven't really met until now."

"It's okay. I heard about your monk friends. I'm sorry."

"Thanks, me too…. I heard that you're taking missions with different people to get experience. Do you want to do a simple escort mission me? I understand if you've already got someone else in mind." She asked, somewhat awkwardly. Honestly, the only real reason she was talking to the girl was because Natsu kept bringing her up…. and Lucy 'subtly' brought it up as well, suggesting that it might be nice for the little dragonslayer to bond with an older, female dragonslayer. Especially given her other role models were Natsu and Gajeel. Erza then agreed with her, threatening to force her into shopping again if she didn't make an effort.

So, it was either do a job with Wendy, or be forced into shopping with Erza.

"Umm… sure, I'll take a mission with you." She said cutely, and smiled up at her.

"You're a dragonslayer like Wendy, correct?" Her cat, Carla, asked.

"Yeah, but my power comes from Dragonslayer Lacrima. My mom was a true dragonslayer and taught me how to fight."

"And this mission. It's just an escort mission?"

"Yeah. Apparently some rich guy wants us to escort his daughter from the train station to his house in the woods. It's easy money." She explained, showing her the flyer. "The train will arrive at 7 PM, which means we need to leave here at 6."

"That's just a few hours from now…"

"Is that a problem?"

"None at all!" Carla answered for her.

"Awesome. I'm going to be reading in the corner til then. You can join me if you want." She said, and then waved as she walked off, still feeling awkward as Lucy and Erza gave her a thumbs up.

2.

"Where are you running off to, Natsu?" Kasai asked, not able to overhear his conversation with Gray just moments before.

"Gray heard a rumor about a dragon being in town." He replied, pausing in his steps to talk to her.

"Igneel?"

"I dunno, that's why I'm going to go check it out! Want to come with?"

"Sorry, I've got a mission. Tell me about it when you get back."

"Kay." He said, and ran off.

"Ready?" Wendy asked, getting the red head's attention. She nodded, putting the notebook back in her back pack.

"Let's roll."

3.

"So… you two are dragonslayers?" The little blond girl asked, looking back and forth between the two of them. "You don't look very tough."

"I'm not strong yet, but I will be!" Wendy said confidently, causing the other dragonslayer to smile at the visible similarity between her and Natsu.

"So my dad hired a little girl to protect me? How are you even part of Fairy Tale?" The girl asked, not much younger than Wendy, causing her to tear up.

"We all had to learn how to fight somehow at Fairy Tale. I started fighting when I was barely 4 years old."

"Seriously? So you've been fighting for like, 60 years?" She asked, causing the red head to laugh awkwardly. Behind her, she carried a trolley of 10 bags that were heavier than they looked, and for a second, she was tempted to make the girl carry it.

"Anyway. I've heard that Wendy has some pretty cool wind magic that she's getting the hang of. Not to mention some awesome healing magic. Actually, I've been meaning to ask, Wendy," She said, looking over at the girl. "Do you know anything about blood magic? It's like a sub-magic group of healing magic. Or so I've heard."

"Blood magic? I've heard of it, but don't know much about it. I didn't know anyone else knew healing magic." Wendy answered, gaining a bit of confidence.

"I only know one healing spell, and it doesn't even work very well. Great in a pinch, though."

"Where did you learn it?"

"I lived near a monastery growing up, and they had a bunch of ancient books. I'm thinking of making more frequent trips there to learn more. Next trip I plan to learn more about healing magic."

"God, you two are so boring. Do either of you know anything about fashion? No, of course not. I don't know why I asked." The girl asked, causing Kasai to laugh.

4.

They weren't very far from their destination when they were attacked.

"Stay still!" Kasai yelled to the girls, creating a barrier around them. When one of the men tried to punch through, he hit the wall and fell to the ground. "Wendy, make sure that Kelly stays within this barrier. I'm counting on you, alright?" She said, looking over the blue-haired girl with a confident smirk.

"Yes ma'am!"

They were completely surrounded by wizards, all of whom looked much more powerful than her normal enemy. "Don't leave the barrier until I tell you so. If you leave the circle, you won't be able to get back in." She added, winked at them, and then jumped into the fight.

The two girls watched, barely able to keep up with the wizard's movements as she tackled and took down each wizard and used an assortment of magic.

Kasai was surprised by something, and stabbed pretty badly. Then Wendy saw the blood magic she had been talking about, along with the healing magic. It didn't look very effective from afar, but she figured that she wouldn't be using it if it didn't work.

Wendy looked down and noticed that the person they were guarding was now on the ground in fetal position, hugging her knees and shaking. "It's okay, Kelly. Kasai is a great wizard, and this barrier will protect us."

Just as she said that, Kasai was thrown onto the ground and pinned down by several other wizards. Another man came up with a large axe, like he was about to cut her head off.

"Aaaah no! Kasai!"

"Wendy, don't leave the barrier!" Carla reached out for her, but it was too late. Wendy realized her mistake the second her body fully left the barrier.

"Look at who we have here," One of the wizards chuckled, starting to move towards her. She took a step back, terror on her face.

"Stay away from Wendy!" Kasai screamed, her fire suddenly going wild and knocking back several people. To Wendy, she looked just like Natsu, resorting to his style of fighting in order to make them back off. She made whirlwind kicks, spiraling fire around her, and Wendy found herself running behind the barrier to use it as a shield against the flames. "I try not resort to this type of fighting," Kasai said, punching another person in the face. "Because I don't like to hurt people!" She yelled, punching another person in the face. "But I think you guys can handle it!"

A few minutes later, and the gang had disbanded. The wounded were left behind.

Once it was safe, Wendy cheered and ran after her.

"Wendy, that was very foolish of you!" Carla yelled after her, the words falling on deaf ears.

"Kasai! Are you alright? Should I heal that?" The girl asked, noticing that she looked on the verge of passing out.

"How about you heal me after we drop off Kelly here? I don't want you to run out of magic before we get there. If we get attacked again, I'll need to count on you."

"You look hurt, though."

"I've got my own healing magic doing the job." She told her, not mentioning that she was worried about completely draining her magic. Kasai's own magic held herself together, but she felt so jerry-rigged that if the girl tried to heal her entire body, it might drain her too much. "Kelly, you alright?" Kasai asked, knowing that she was, physically at least, perfectly fine.

The girl got up, huffing, and dusted off her skirt.

"Just get me home." She said, teary-eyed.

"Yes ma'am." Kasai said, walked over to the cart full of baggage, and started walking again with it in tow.

5.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NATSU IS INSIDE THAT THING!?" Kasai yelled, loudly, at Mirajane and her fists on fire. Since she joined Fairy Tale she'd started to be more… open with using her fire with her emotions, but this was by far the biggest outburst she had made.

"It's a long story, but basically Gray tricked Natsu into going into that thing, and now Natsu is the power source for it. If we don't destroy it, he's going to destroy the town." She explained, nervous by the powerful magic she was sensing from her.

"Kasai, if you're gonna fight again, let me to heal you again! You're still hurt!" Wendy told her, looking at the injuries that she couldn't fully heal the first time.

"Help the others. They need it more." She said, referring to Elfman and several others that looked badly injured. "I'm fired up as it is, and I'm not going to let that idiot die!" She yelled, and then ran at top speed towards the group of fighters near the dragon.

His friends were yelling insults at him, getting him riled up, and currently he was focused on taking down Erza.

"I'M GONNA TAKE YOU DOWN!" The large dragon yelled with Natsu's voice, attacking her, but missing. Erza sliced down on the jewel-like-object in the center, doing little to no damage.

"That jewel is what we're attacking, right?" She asked Lucy, and she nodded.

Kasai, apparently moving at the same time as Gajeel, both hit the jewel with iron and fire at the same time, causing it to smash and crack open.

"I leave town for an hour and come home to find you powering a robot dragon?" Kasai asked Natsu, crossing her arms and switching her weight to one hip. He was panting, trying to regain his breath.

"If she hadn't shown up, I would have beat you up when no one was looking." Gajeel said, making a similar pose.

"You still have the chance." She replied, smiling cheekily at him.

"Hey, what's the big idea!?" Natsu yelled, glaring at his supposed girlfriend.

"Hey, blondie! Get your archer out and shoot us some fire!" Gajeel yelled from his spot.

"It looks like everyone is preparing a big meal for you." Kasai commented, watching multiple wizards preparing fire magic to shoot at them. "Better brace yourself, Gajeel. It's gonna get hot."

"Whose girlfriend are you!? I almost die and your making jokes?!"

"How about you redirect the anger at the person who put you in this mess?" She asked, causing the pink-haired man to pause a moment, and then smile.

"You're right." He said.

"Fire is all yours." She said, and they were hit with a huge blast of fire magic.

6.

"Kasai!" Wendy greeted, running up to the wizard as she entered the Guild Hall. She was beaming at her, something hidden behind her back, and Carla wasn't too far behind her.

"Hey Wendy, how's it going?" She asked, surprised by the eccentric greeting.

"Good, how are you? Are you healing well after fighting yesterday?"

"Fighting? She barely did anything when Natsu was kidnapped." Gajeel interrupted, earning a glare from the other dragonslayer.

"We were on a mission when everything went down. I attacked the dragon as soon as I was able."

"Right. Sounds more like you just didn't want to get your hands dirty."

"No way. You should have seen her fight all those wizards! She was amazing! She used awesome fire magic like Natsu!"

"Right, you're Mrs. Natsu."

"Could you tone it down a bit? If Natsu could beat you, I could certainly kick your ass." She challenged, smirking as he ground the iron with his teeth. He didn't say anything, and after a moment, she redirected her attention back to Wendy. "Let's go over by the pool where he won't bother us." The red head suggested, sticking her tongue out at him before walking away with the girl.

Once they got to the pool side, they sat down at an empty table.

"I'm sorry for the other day… the mission wasn't supposed to be that difficult. I'm sorry for putting you in danger like that." Kasai said, bowing her head to her.

"It's not like you knew they were going to attack." Carla pointed out.

"I've had a bounty on me for a long time… and recently I got off it."

"So those were bounty hunters?"

"No… it's a long story. Basically, this guy Tanashimi has been pretty relentless to kill me, but recently Makarov sent the entire Guild after him. I thought that they would definitely leave me alone after that."

"I think I was here when that happened, but they wouldn't let me go with them." Wendy said, seeming surprised that the event was on Kasai's behalf.

"So when Tanashimi attacked the other day, I-"

"HE WHAT!? HE'S BACK!? I THOUGHT WE TOOK CARE OF THAT GUY!?" Natsu yelled, suddenly grabbing Kasai by the shoulders and shaking her roughly. He may have been in bandages, but was hardly short on energy.

"Since when do you eavesdrop!?" She yelled back, grabbing his wrists to stop the shaking.

"I wasn't, I was just walking by and heard you talk about it!" He yelled, causing her to frown. "Why the hell didn't you mention it sooner that he's still around? Let's kick his butt!" He said, taking a step back and punching his fists together.

"Chill out, I'm fine."

"Even though you won't let me heal you." Wendy said, pouting slightly and eerily similar to a certain blue cat.

"You've been spending too much time with Happy."

"I understand why you don't like doctors, but Wendy? Come on!"

"Hey, why am I suddenly the bad guy?" Kasai asked, standing up with her back pack hanging from her shoulder. "You're the one that got tricked into powering a giant doomsday device that almost wiped out the town."

"Kasai, did I hear correctly when you said that Tanashimi attacked you again?" Erza asked, entering the conversation.

Kasai knew this conversation was going to end badly.

"You too?"

"What's going on?" Lucy asked, also entering the conversation.

"Ugh, I'm going home." Kasai said, starting to leave, but then Erza grabbed her arm and shoved her back in the chair. She grit her teeth down, her injuries not fully healed, and looked up at them.

"Be careful with her." Wendy spoke up, getting Erza's attention.

"Why are you guys so pushy? It's not like I hid it from you. I just never got the chance to tell you guys with the whole dragon thing." She explained, looking up at the three wizards. "Levy and I created a barrier spell that used to keep Wendy and the other girl safe."

"You're a member of Fairy Tale, Kasai. When someone attacks you, they attack all of us. Why can't you get that through your thick skull?" Erza said harshly, and causing the woman to pout.

"You guys already tried to take him down. He's running out of money and resources, and should give up any day now. Calm down, guys."

"I never got a chance at him! Tell me where he is and roast him!" Natsu said, firing fire into the air. "I'm all fired up!"

"I don't know where he is. Otherwise I'd take care of him myself." She answered, her heart rate increasing along with her annoyance.

"Do you have a fear of healers or something?" Wendy asked, causing her eye to twitch.

"Kind of." Lucy answered for her. "Cheer up, Kasai. We all just worry sometimes. We just want you to know that we're here to help if you need it."

"Aye!" Happy said, flying down and standing on the patch of chair between her legs.

"Besides, it's no fun to fight you when you're injured! Just let the little girl heal you already!" Natsu yelled, making her glare at him.

"I let her heal me the other day." She said. "And even though she doesn't want to admit it, it drained her considerably."

"It's because you already use healing magic." Wendy answered for her. "I only got to heal you a little, but if I do it again-"

"When I first tried healing magic, I did it wrong, slowing down my natural healing abilities considerably. I rely on my improved healing magic to speed it back up, and had to adjust the spell so much, your magic probably wouldn't even do anything with it in place."

"So just disable the spell and let her use her magic. Maybe she can undo the damage that you've done." Erza suggested, using her scary face.

"And risk screwing up her magic? No way. The only reason I let her try the first time was because I was injured so badly during the battle with Tanashimi."

"Ha! So you weren't just 'tired'. Knew it!" Natsu yelled, making her face turn to the color of a tomato. She leaned over and punched him in the stomach, causing him to fall into the pool.

"Idiot."

"Nice punch." Lucy complimented, watching Natsu flop around the pool and splash everyone.

Kasai tried to get up again, but Erza pushed her back down. "You didn't have time to talk to us earlier, but you are now."

She glared up at the woman, contemplating how to go about the situation.

She felt out of control.

She needed some semblance of control.

"What the hell was that for!? I was talking about fighting, you dumb ass!" Natsu yelled from the pool.

"Stop shoving me around, Erza." Kasai said, standing up again.

"Wow, guys, don't fight about this." Lucy said, eyeing Kasai's fire hands and Erza making one of her swords appear.

"It seems that we need to hurt you in order to help you." Erza said, readying her sword.

"You need to learn how to mind your own business." The other red-head answered, a group beginning to form in order to watch the fight.

"Has anyone ever seen them fight?!"

"No, you?"

"Aside from that one time they tried to restrain her, I don't think they've ever fought!"

"Two S-Class Wizards fighting? They're going to destroy the new pool!"

Lucy ran away from them, Wendy and Carla doing the same, getting as much distance as possible.

"I've been curious which of us is stronger." Erza stated, eyeing the fire magic now blazing from the other wizard. She knew that she was a dragonslayer, but since she had never seen her use it to the extent of Natsu's abilities, figured that she was either boasting or not great at it.

"You seem surprised. Forget that I'm a dragonslayer?" She asked before lunging forward and beginning the battle.

Five minutes later, the pool was wrecked and there was a hole in the Guild Hall wall, along with several other objects damaged.

In the end, though, Kasai caught her with her blood magic, but made it a stronger dose so that it sucked away her magic almost instantaneously. Even though it was 'cheating', she didn't have the energy to destroy the entire Guild Hall just to prove a point.

"Bored. Going home now." Kasai waved, causing everyone's jaws to drop and just watch her walk away, barely a scratch on her.

1.

"Hey. What's with you? Erza agrees to fight you and you just _knock her out_ and walk away!?" Natsu asked, barging into her apartment and finding her sitting on her couch. Happy was right behind him, as per usual. "What the hell? I know you can fight better than that." He said, continuing to yell at her, and not noticing her arm.

She wasn't really listening; she was too caught up in her own thoughts.

Her arm, now blackened, weirdly textured, and grotesque, was the only thing on her mind. It extended just short of her wrist to just below her elbow, and almost looked like extreme burn marks. If it weren't for the lack of smell, she'd say that she burned herself, which is something she's never done before.

"Natsu, shut up! Can't you see that she's hurt?" Happy asked, now flying over to sit on the coffee table and look at her.

Her brown eyes, usually soft and cheerful, were locked on the disfigured arm with a mixture of confusion and fear. The other dragonslayer finally stopped talking, noticing why it was so quiet.

"What the hell is that on your arm!?" He asked, grossed out and half hiding behind the arm rest of the couch. "That better not be a weird kink thing…"

"I messed up." She said, a half smile on her face and expression softening. "It's a good thing this happened when fighting Erza and not someone else… otherwise I might be dead right now."

"What did you do?" Happy and Natsu asked in unison, both of them giving her suspicious glares.

"That mission with Wendy… when we were attacked by Tanashimi… they were stronger than I expected and let on. They somehow knew my magic and could get past it, leaving me practically defenseless. At one point I was pinned down, and had a plan to get out of it using a combination of fire and martial arts… but it was going to be close." She explained, and then sighed. "And then Wendy left the barrier I created for her at the worst possible moment."

"Wait, you're blaming Wendy for _your_ screw up?"

"I'm not blaming anyone, and would you let me finish?" She snapped, causing him to go back into silence. "Since I didn't account for her, which was _my_ mistake and responsibility, I had to try and use the new blood magic spell I wasn't done translating. Even if she hadn't interfered I probably would have had to use the spell."

"Blood magic? I thought you hated using it." He said, sticking his tongue out.

"I do. It can be an extremely costly magic that no one should rely on. In a pinch, when I'm bleeding profusely and about to die, it's a pretty good back up."

"So, what you're saying… is that Tanashimi is so powerful he can beat you?"

"Well… I don't know about that…"

"Tell me where he is and I'll kick his ass!" He yelled, fired up.

"Wish I could. I have no idea where he is."

"What, seriously?"

"Everyone thought you were lying to Erza earlier and planning to go after him yourself." Happy told her, causing her to chuckle.

"Until I see the healer in the forest, I'm not fighting anyone." She admitted, looking back down at her forearm and turning it at different angles. It looked like little craters were in it, pooled with dried blood.

"It looks like you left it out in the sun too long." Happy said, and she agreed.

"Well come on, let's go!" Natsu yelled, scooping Kasai into his arms and catching her off-guard with his enthusiasm.

"Natsu, my legs work fine."

"Not risking it!" He said, causing her to laugh, and then running out the front door with Happy close behind. Kasai was suddenly glad that the door to her apartment closed automatically, otherwise it would be left open for hours.

2.

"Idiot." The old woman muttered over and over again, looking at the woman's arm. "Foolish."

"You should see the other guys." She said, smiling, and chuckling awkwardly when she just got a cold stare in return.

"Will she be okay?" Natsu asked, receiving the same cold stare.

"Shut up."

"Yes ma'am." Natsu cringed, hugging Happy and using him as a shield. "She's scary." He whispered, and Happy nodded.

"Stupid."

"There's a new healer at the Guild, and I've-" Kasai tried to speak, but was cut off before she could finish her sentence.

"You're so screwed up it would only endanger her life." She said, not letting her finish the sentence and still examining it. Her voice was like a knife, cutting into her like a sharp blade.

Kasai gave Natsu an 'I told you so' look.

"Your healing magic is fueled by fire magic, right?" The old woman asked, getting the young woman's attention again.

"Yes." She said curtly, honestly scared of someone for the first time in her life.

"My guess is that when you fought with Erza, you cooked your arm up. The residual blood magic reacted to the fire magic and caused this."

"I suspected something like that."

"You were lucky." The old woman said coldly, causing Kasai to slouch.

"Yes ma'am."

"So long as you don't expose this section of your arm to fire magic, you should be fine." The healer said, and then walked over to a shelf and started searching for something. After a moment of silence, she returned with a flesh looking piece of fabric, looking to be the size of her forearm. First, she cast some kind of mysterious spell on her arm, then put the fabric over it and tied it down. "This fabric will protect your arm from all magic, but will also allow the injury to breath."

"How durable is it?"

"If you're asking if you can fight with it, I wouldn't recommend it. It's strong, but if it breaks, you'll lose your entire arm for good." The healer said, causing the girl to frown.

"Your entire arm…?" Happy asked, causing the old woman to glare at him.

"What did I say?"

"Yes ma'am."

"So, to be clear: if I expose my arm to fire magic, the blood magic will become unstable and cannibalize itself?" Kasai asked, trying to show the old woman that she did know some things about the magic she used. Although she had jumped the gun in using the spell, she had deciphered the risks involved, and unfortunately blood magic 'cannibalizing' the user was a common side effect. Probably the main reason why no one uses blood magic anymore.

"So you _did_ know the consequences of the spell?" She asked, causing Natsu and Happy to yell 'WHAT?!' at the same time.

"I had never planned to use the spell for that reason." Kasai admitted awkwardly.

"Are there any other botched magic attempts that I should know about?" The pink-haired angry woman asked, causing Kasai to shake her head 'no'.

"What about the healing magic?" Natsu asked, eyeing his girlfriend.

"What _about_ the healing magic?" The old woman repeated, looking at the now terrified girl.

"I've already had a healer check me out for that one. When I was younger, I messed up a healing spell and decreased my natural healing abilities. Afterwards the healer taught me a basic spell to compensate for it, and I improved it so that I can cast efficient healing spells on myself." She explained quickly, cringing under her stare.

"Uh-huh." The old woman said, staring at her intently. "Where was this healer?"

"At the monastery I trained at as a child. Most of them were killed shortly after I left."

"No doubt from botching up ancient magic they didn't understand."

"No, I was the only one that liked to dig up forgotten spells. I was the weirdo causing mudslides and-"

"How did they die?"

"The surviving monk said that there was a civil war. Apparently things got heated over politics."

"So the monks trained in solitude, respect, and peace killed themselves over it?" She asked harshly, causing Kasai to lower her gaze. "When you were digging up ancient magic, did you ever come across anything that could cause something like that?"

"Most of the spells were nonlethal…" She said, but then added quietly, "when used correctly…" Avoiding eye contact…

"If a little girl could figure out how to take non-lethal ancient spells and make them _lethal_ ," she said, referring to the girls arm. "What makes you think that the monks couldn't do the same?"

"I like to think I was smart and creative for my age, but I understand your point."

"You're going to end up dead like those monks if you keep screwing up like this."

"I would be dead right now if I didn't." She talked back, resulting in cringing at the death glare she received. "But I understand your point and will do more research before using a new spell next time." The red-head added quickly.

"Idiot. Leave. All of you!" She yelled, causing the three to run out of the small hut.

Once they were far enough away that they were confident in not being caught, they rested by an old tree to catch their breath. "She's so scary." Natsu repeated, causing the other two to nod.

"Aye." Happy agreed, landing on the ground a few feet away from them.

"You really are a Fairy Tale wizard." Natsu said after a moment, grinning at her and chuckling. He sat down and rested against the trunk of the tree, criss-crossing his legs and patting the empty spot beside him.

Kasai sat down, and was pleasantly surprised when Natsu put his arm around her and pulled her close. She leaned against him, relaxing, and looked up to notice that they were at a perfect place to view the town of Magnolia.

The blue cat, wanting to join the cuddles, came over and sat on Kasai's lap.

"What did you mean earlier?" Kasai asked, causing him to blink.

"Huh?"

"A few minutes ago, you said that I 'really am a Fairy Tale wizard'."

"Oh, that. Just that you're reckless." He said, chuckling. "And you have a good heart. And you care about people." He said, lightly caressing the exposed skin on her arm with his thumb.

"And stupid." Happy added, but Kasai ignored him.

"You didn't think I was reckless before?"

"Not really. When we first met, you seemed very… simple. Calculated. You didn't take any unnecessary risks, always acted like you had everything under control. The more I got to know you, the more that seemed the case. Even when we fight together, you always seem so cool."

"Really?" She asked, surprised. "Well, when we fight, you've already figured out that I don't fight to win. It's more like… dancing, to me."

"Dancing? Seriously?"

"Hear me out. Martial arts, spell casting… all of it just clicks for me. Once I understand the basic mechanics, I'm creative enough to apply it to almost every situation. When we're fighting, I'm not looking to win, I'm figuring out new strategies and tactics with that element."

"So you're saying I'm your guinea pig?" He asked, frowning and sulking.

"Kind of." She admitted, but leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Trust me when I say that, if we fought solely to see which of us was stronger using our fire magic, you would beat me."

He smiled, looking at her. "I was trained by an actual dragon, after all." He gloated, and then went back to looking at Magnolia. "Since that Shini guy is still out there, I'm not letting you out of my sight."

This time, Kasai frowned. "Now you're going to get all cocky because I said that, aren't you?"

"Remember what Erza said about that thick skull of yours?" He asked, chuckling and causing her to blush. "Until we take this guy down for good, you're going to take missions with me and my team. Got it?"

"And if I refuse?" She asked, a small 'eep' escaping her lips as he pushed her on the ground and pinned her down. Happy jumped away in time, annoyed at almost being crushed.

"Eeeew." The blue cat whined.

Ignoring him, Natsu kept his eyes locked on hers with an intensity she hadn't seen before. "You're not going to die on me. You can't just enter my life, say you're in trouble, and not let me help you." He said, his breath brushing against her lips and upper body hovering just inches away from her own. His legs, on either side of her waist, radiated heat.

For a moment, she was lost in his brown eyes, forgetting that he had said anything. The golden hue in his eyes was more beautiful every time she saw it, and she loved the moments she was able to just stare at those mesmerizing brown orbs. It wasn't until he tightened his grip on her wrists, pinned down over her head with his one hand, and smirked at her speechlessness that she realized he was waiting for a response. "Fine."

"Awe, I was hoping for a little more resistance than that." Natsu said, his smirk widening given their current positions.

"You guys are groooss!" Happy whined, and for the first time, Natsu looked up at him.

"Oh yeah, you're still here."

"You forgot about me?!" Happy yelled, crying, and started running away.

"Happy, I'm sorry!" He yelled, jumping off of the girl and running after him. "Happyyyy!"


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

 _Nudist Colony_

"So what's the mission again?" Lucy asked the group, forgetting for the hundredth time, probably because she was so distracted by the perfect weather and beautiful surroundings.

"Just have to get a blanket woven by the Sandal Colonists. Apparently it's super rare, and they refuse to sell to traders, so the only way to get one is to buy directly." Gray answered her, although doubting that she heard.

Kasai's ears suddenly perked up, hearing him speak. "The Sandal Colonists, you said?" She said, smiling wide.

"Yeah, you heard of them?"

"Heard of them? I used to live with them." She said, spinning so that she was now walking backwards and facing them. "Do any of you guys know why they're called the 'Sandal Colonists'?" She asked, looking at each of them for an answer.

No one knew.

Her smile widened.

"What? Is there something we should know?" Gray asked, skeptical of her giddy expression.

"Let's just say that you'll feel right at home, Gray." Was all she said, and then spun and faced the path again. They were walking down a path that crossed a beautiful meadow, and so far, their entire journey had been calming and nice. Soon they would be hiking up the mountain, but given the weather, it looked like it would be a nice journey. "I miss those guys. You'll probably be able to meet Comet and Star, Natsu."

"Eh? Who?" He asked, only now listening to the conversation.

"The guys that used to train at the temple. They were part of the colony, and it's possible that they migrated with them."

"Are they called 'Sandal Colonists' because they move so much?" Gray asked, and heard a 'hee hee' come from the girl.

"That's part of it. I can't wait to see them again." She said, now distracted from the guessing game and thinking about her friends. Although Kasai had been sad about losing her monk friends as of late, she completely forgot about her migratory friends. Kasai's mother and her lived with them for over 10 years, and they welcomed both of them with open arms.

1.

"Close your eyes!" Natsu yelled, covering his girlfriend's eyes.

"Natsu, cut it out." She said, prying his hands away.

"But there's naked people!" He yelled, referring to the several nude people that were down the road, seeming to be playing a game.

"Yeah. It's a nudist colony." She said, causing everyone's jaws to drop. "Like I said, Gray. You should feel right at home."

"I'm not a nudist!" He yelled, only in his boxers.

"Nice boxers." She replied, laughing at his never ending surprise at losing his clothes.

"You could have given us some warning." Erza whispered, awkwardly looking away.

"I thought you guys were mature wizards? These people are awesome if you give them the chance." She said, looking at the group that had huddled behind her. Kasai had to keep slapping Natsu's hands away from her face. "You guys can stay here if you want. I can finish the mission from here."

"You're not going in there alone!" Natsu yelled, stepping forward and wrapping his arm around her waist and pressing her against his side.

"Loosen up, will you? … literally, Natsu, you're squeezing me too hard."

"Taiyo!?" Someone called out, before they even officially entered the small village. Kasai looked up, seeing the familiar twins she had been hoping to find, and smiling widely.

"Star! Comet!" She said happily, and ran after them much to Natsu's disapproval.

Natsu watched his girlfriend run towards two muscled, tall, tan, _nude_ , men that he didn't know. Even if he knew them, it wouldn't make this much better. "Kasai, DAMN IT!"

She ran up to them, jumping into one of their arms and being spun around in circles. They pecked kisses all over her face, making her laugh and squirm a bit, and when they set her down found Natsu yelling at them like an annoying chiwawa dog. "Whose this guy, Tai?"

"Boyfriend." She said, causing both of them to 'ooh' and squeal, acting much girlier and feminine contrary to their size and muscles.

"He is adorable!" One of them said, picked him up, and silenced him by pecking kisses all over his face, just like Kasai. Then he hugged and spun him around, talking about how adorable he was, while Natsu basically passed out from all the stress.

"It's because all they wear is sandals, right?" Gray asked, approaching the group with happy not far behind. Kasai nodded, still grinning widely, and then went to convince Star to set poor Natsu down. Erza and Lucy stayed behind on the path, confused and blushing.

"Have you ever been to a nudist colony?" Lucy whispered to Erza.

"I accidentally went into a male bathhouse once." She offered, but then took a deep breath and puffed out her chest. "We're wizards, Lucy. This is nothing compared to what we've faced in the past. And who knows," She said, turning to face the blond. "Some of them might be cute." Erza said with a wink, causing Lucy to fall over in embarrassment.

"It's too bad Natsu passed out. He would have liked to fight two of the strongest wizards I've ever met." Kasai spoke, and with the help of Gray managed to get him on her back.

"Maybe next time." Comet replied, quietly chuckling at the pink-haired boy. "You didn't warn them that this was a nudist colony, did you?"

"I couldn't resist seeing their reactions." She said, chuckling with that mischievous grin of hers.

"I thought you'd grown out of that. Shame on you." Star scolded, not making any impact on that grin.

"Why are Natsu and the others so freaked out? It's not like they haven't seen naked people at the Guild Hall." Happy spoke, looking pointedly at Gray, who glared back.

"Humans are silly." Kasai replied. "I know it was mean of me to do, but I'm so happy to see you guys! I was afraid you died with the other monks."

"We got out," One of them spoke, and the other finished.

"But only after the battle."

"I'm sorry. It must have been terrible." She said, her grin finally falling.

"It was. We barely escaped with our lives."

"The screams…"

"I hate to ask this," Kasai started awkwardly, "But is there a chance that it was started as a result of Ancient magic? I've only heard vague details about what actually happened."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Star answered. "But it was so chaotic, we'd have no way of knowing. Things were getting pretty heated up in the weeks leading up to it."

"Don't even think about it." Natsu grumbled into her neck, acting like he was motion sick.

"What?"

"Don't even think of finding whatever spell did that." He grumbled, causing her to roll her eyes.

"Why the hell would I do that, Natsu?"

"You have to ask?" He countered, making her glare at him.

"If it was a spell, it would have likely been a psychic one, and I know that you never had a talent for that. It was the one type of magic that you just sucked at." Star said, causing her to scowl, while he laughed at her expression. "You haven't changed a bit!"

"Are you still playing with mud magic?" Comet asked, starting to come out of his trance.

"I play with any type of magic that I can get my hands on." She said, her grin returning.

"Kasai, if you want to stay here and play catch up with your friends, I can go into the village and get the blanket." Gray offered.

"Really? That would be awesome. I owe you one."

"Natsu, do you want to stay here or come with me?" Gray asked, not surprised when he didn't receive an answer. "Hey girls, do you want to finish this mission or what?" He asked, calling back to Lucy and Erza who were still chatting at the trail. Their faces looking beat red.

"Let's do this!" Erza yelled, running forward as fast as she could, and causing Gray and Lucy to play catch up.

"It's so weird to see you with clothes on after all of these years." Star commented, noticing Natsu waking up, and causing him to glare at him.

"What is that supposed to mean!?" He yelled in her ear, causing the fire woman to drop him on the ground.

"They're both gay, Natsu. They're just messing with you." Kasai finally admitted, causing them to snap their fingers in mock disappointment.

"Taiyo, why'd you have to do that? We were going to play with him a bit longer." Comet asked.

Still awkward, but not as angry as before, Natsu stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets, standing close enough to Kasai that their arms touched. Happy landed on his head. "You're weird, Natsu."

"Hey, why do you guys keep calling her 'Taiyo'?" Natsu suddenly asked, realizing that they had called her that multiple times.

"That's my real name. 'Kasai' was my mother's middle name, so when I went into hiding, I took it." She answered, glad that he wasn't yelling anymore.

"We're sorry about your mother, Taiyo. She was a wonderful woman. We held a memorial for her." Star told her, both twins bowing their head slightly. "We were all really worried about you when you just left without saying goodbye."

"She has a habit of leaving out key information." Natsu said, eyeing her, and causing her to laugh awkwardly.

"I'm sorry for worrying you guys. Once I found out that my mother was murdered, and that I was next, I didn't want to put any of you in danger." She told them, both of whom seemed surprised by the knowledge.

"Murdered? I thought a surgeon botched her surgery?"

"He was hired by a guy named Tanashimi."

"So that's who those guys were…" Comet spoke, causing everyone to look at him. "Remember, bro, how those guys were looking for Taiyo at the memorial? Claimed that they needed her to sign paperwork?"

"Oh yeah… they were pretty sketchy." Star added, both of them nodding as they recalled the event.

"So if Kasai hadn't left so abruptly, she would have been attacked?" Happy asked, trying to understand the information.

"Probably. Most people in our colony aren't fighters, so it could have ended badly." Star answered.

"So why do you people not wear clothes?" Natsu asked, bluntly.

"Some of us wear clothes. Most of us don't care for them, though. Our colony is more about freedom of wearing whatever we feel like, rather than dwelling on fashion." Star answered, not giving a fun enough answer for the dragonslayer, who just turned his head and snorted.

"How's David and Sarah doing?" Kasai asked, suddenly remembering the pair. "Last I saw them, they really hit it off."

"Well…" Comet started, getting that sad look in his eyes again.

"David died during the fight, and Sarah… well, she disappeared, like you. We don't know what happened to her." Star told her, making her frown. "We were hoping that she found you and went into hiding with you…"

"That's so sad. I was hoping that they would be here, too. I miss them."

2.

Kasai hated to say good bye to her friends, but once the group made it back to them, everyone was in a hurry to get back home. Not surprisingly, they all caused a ruckus in the village and broke a lot of objects. The female dragonslayer made sure to tell Star and Comet that they could bill the Guild for any damage.

Given Natsu's soreness about her hugging them earlier, Kasai settled on shaking their hands instead for a farewell. Even as they were walking away, Natsu wrapped his arm around her waist and glared at them, causing his girlfriend to elbow him in the ribs and make him fall over in pain.

"Well that was an interesting job." Gray commented, trying to ignore Natsu's obnoxious yelling. "Will you shut up, Natsu?!"

"That's easy for you to say, you're practically one of them!" The pink-haired man exclaimed, pointing at the half-naked man.

While they argued, Kasai looked down at her injured forearm, decorated metal armor covering it. She couldn't help but think back to when she was younger and studied ancient magic on a daily basis, and how as Star said, she could never figure out psychic or telepathic magic.

It bugged her.

For the first time since she was 10, she was bothered by the fact that she couldn't get even a basic grasp on the blasted magic style. Even magic styles she couldn't do herself, she at least understood. Something about psychic magic completely eluded her.

She rested her hands in her pockets and looked at her group, noticing that they were all fighting and arguing. Her feet dragged a bit, not bothered at being behind the group.

It made her think about David and Sarah, and where Sarah might be at that moment. Sarah, although not the best of fighters, was the only female friend that she had growing up. Pretty much all of her friends were guys, given that she focused so much time and energy on fighting and magic.

Sarah and David… they would fight like cats and dogs, both in and out of the sack. She would know, since she would accidentally walk in on them all the time, because they have sex in extremely public places and were extremely _loud_.

Idiots.

"Kasai, why are you crying?" Happy asked, causing her to look up at the flying cat. The rest of the group was too preoccupied with their fighting.

"I'm just thinking about a couple of friends from my childhood, David and Sarah." She said, smiling through the tears. "I just miss them." She wiped away the tears with her hands.

"David and Sarah?"

"Yeah. They were terrible fighters and argued all the time." She said, her smile turning into the same grin as when she talked to her old friends.

"I've never seen you smile so much."

"Old friends will do that." She said, and stopped abruptly when she almost walked into Natsu, who was standing there staring at her. "What's up?"

"Hmmm…." He hummed, crossing his arms.

The rest of the group had apparently stopped as well.

"Uh, Natsu?"

"Well, if we're going to race with weights, we need to distribute the people evenly." Erza said, looking at Kasai and Lucy up and down.

"What's going on?" Happy asked, speaking Kasai's thoughts.

"We're gonna race, dummy! I get Kasai!" Natsu exclaimed, about to grab her, when someone beat him to the punch.

"Nope!" Gray said, quickly scooping her up in his arms, bridal style, and running off down the road. As per usual, only clad in his boxers, making Natsu even more angry.

"Why do naked people keep trying to steal my girlfriend!?" Natsu yelled after him, and then noticed that Erza was already running away with Lucy in her arms. "Happy!" He yelled, grabbed him, and then chased after them.

"This is not Natsu's day, is it?" Kasai asked, looking up at the half-naked man.

"Nope." He replied, laughing, and then jumped when he felt fire at his heels.

"GRAY, GET BACK HERE SO THAT I CAN PUNCH YOU!"

3.

Although it was ridiculously fun to tease Natsu, the resulting over-protectiveness got old fast. It didn't help that Gray loved to make it worse by randomly picking her up when he wasn't looking and literally carrying her away, making Natsu run after him and break several objects in the process.

Even though she didn't _plan_ on using the needle blood magic attack again in the future, she continued her research into it anyway. She would sit in the mess hall, reading her notes and making more for hours, while Natsu would sit next to her like a guard dog growling at anyone that looked at her.

Then Lucy, or Erza, or whoever else Gray could bribe, would walk up to Natsu and distract him while she was carried off again.

Kasai was too enthralled with her notes to really care who was carrying her, and she was being tossed and handed to so many people she stopped keeping track. She did find herself in Gajeel's arms a few times, though, which was weird. Maybe he had joined the game?

"Kasai, do you even care that you're basically being treated like a flag?" Lucy asked, walking up to her. Natsu hissed at her, but she ignored him.

"Huh? Flag?" She asked, her brown orbs looking up to meet the blond's matching brown eyes.

"'Capture the Flag'." She clarified, causing the red head to chuckle.

"Not really. I'm so busy with my notes that I stopped keeping score. Who's winning?" She asked, causing Natsu to glare at her.

"You don't even care that I'm fighting for you?" He asked, pouting and tearing up.

In response, she reached her hand up and ruffled his hair, kissed his cheek, then pulled him towards her in a side hug. He hugged her back, nuzzling her neck while also glaring at the guys looming in the corners. That would quiet him for a little while. "So?" Kasai asked, looking at Lucy again.

"Well, they've split off into different teams. The less clothing that they wear when they get you to the finish line, the more points they get. If Natsu's fire touches them, or they get tackled, they're out and have to either pass you on to someone else or return you to Natsu. If you get injured, the entire team loses 5 points."

"Wow, that's quite the detailed game." Kasai commented, surprised that it had been going that far, but surprisingly not that bothered by being in the arms of multiple half-naked attractive wizards. "Still- whose winning?"

"Gray's team is ahead by 2 points. It's 10 to 12."

"Who's on the other team?"

"Gajeel, Erza, and a few other people. Haven't you noticed that pretty much the entire Guild is playing?" She asked, her voice dropping at the end at oblivious stare she was getting from the wizard. "Yep, you two are perfect for each other." Lucy said, causing the red head to chuckle and smile at her.

"Grrrrrrr…." Natsu growled from her side.

"Where is the finish line?"

"About a mile from here. They've already run you there and back several times…. That must be a really good book."

"Notes, actually." She said, and suddenly found herself being squished out of Natsu's arms and replaced by Kana.

Kasai looked up to find herself in a shirtless Elfman's arms, being snuck away out the back entrance. Once they were far enough away, she asked him a very important question.

"You're wearing pants, right?"

"A real man wears boxers when he's stealing a woman's heart!" He said, causing her to laugh. They heard Natsu yelling in the background, which made Elfman panic and run faster. Once Natsu got closer, and mid lunge, Elfman tossed her to Erza, who was wearing a bikini, and started running towards what she assumed was the finish line. Kasai was used to hanging around half naked men, and had gotten used to being carried by them since she was a kid, but the bouncing breasts gently brushing against her stomach and own breasts caused her to blush a deep shade of red. It was difficult to look away, especially since the bikini wasn't hiding anything.

"GET BACK HERE WITH MY GIRLFRIEND!" Natsu screamed, using his fire magic to make himself run faster. The sound brought her thoughts back to her boyfriend, and then back to her notes.

"You guys are so weird." Kasai told Erza, and then went back to her notes, easily delving back into the equations and ancient language, but now slightly more cognizant of her surroundings. The knowledge of Erza's breasts being so close would occasionally draw her out of her spell, but Natsu's yelling or an interesting quote would grab her attention soon afterward.

And then, she found herself flying several yards into the air, and heard Natsu crash into something. When she looked up at her surroundings, mid-flight, she saw Natsu run into a giant rock and Erza slide to a halt in a cloud of dirt. She was about to panic as gravity started taking hold and she didn't see anyone in sight, but then saw two people running towards her.

Gajeel, running in her direction and likely partner to Erza, and Gray, looking to intercept. The dragonslayer figured that this was going either end awesome, or horribly.

Gajeel, not seeing Gray, reached his arms out to catch her, only to get kicked in the head and used as a platform for Gray to catch her. It was at enough of an angle that he had to bring her in close to avoid hurting her feet and skid to a halt using his knee and foot, but then he kicked off of a rock and started running again. There was enough dust and dirt in the air to get Natsu off the trail for a few seconds. "I thought the game was to get me to the finish line?" She asked, looking up at him.

"If we manage to get you to the finish line, there's bonus points for bringing you back. You're okay with this, right?" He asked, suddenly, realizing that he never asked what her opinion of being a football was.

"As long as I can read my notes and Natsu doesn't hate me afterwards, I don't really care. You'd be surprised at how often I got thrown around learning martial arts as a kid."

"Don't worry, Natsu won't blame you." He said encouragingly. "Someone told you the rules, right?" He asked, panting slightly, and she nodded.

"Yeah, Lucy filled me in."

"Natsu's coming up fast. Hope you like flying." He said, tossing her in the air and jumping just as Natsu leapt at him and missed. Now that she thought about this, this was probably excellent practice for everyone. Escort missions weren't that uncommon, so not only was it good practice but it was good endurance, too.

For Natsu… well, he had so much energy the Master was probably just happy he wasn't destroying the Guild Hall. Actually, the more she thought about it, Natsu probably enjoyed chasing after her since he loved competitions. He was the dragon guarding the treasure in this game.

An all too familiar pair of arms caught her, doing a flip as he got her, and when he landed on his feet, she found her captor not running anymore. He smelled of fire, a scent that she could never forget and would always crave.

She looked up at the man, feeling a little guilty when she noticed how sweaty and tired he looked. "Having fun?" Kasai asked, and then reached up and wiped a smudge of dirt off of his cheek. He leaned into her touch, cat like, and smiling. His fangs shimmered against the light of the sun.

"With you running away with half-naked men behind my back?" He asked playfully, pulling her close and kissing her. She could feel his hunger, instinctual need for dominance, and demanding attention in that short kiss, and he pulled away all too soon.

Natsu then shot a pillar of fire into the sky, and stomped back to his 'cave', the rest of the Guild laughing and planning their next attack.

1.

Kasai learned something about herself during that mission. The group, Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Kasai, Happy, and Erza, all walked into the Guild Hall with slumped shoulders and vacant expressions. Well, everyone except for Erza, who was lugging along her huge wagon of clothes and smiling.

"I hate plays." Kasai stated, and sat down at a table. Natsu joined her, falling into the chair next to her and leaning into her, while the rest of the group continued to the bar to talk to their friends.

"It wasn't all bad…" Natsu tried to reason, but failing to come up with anything substantial to say in its defense. "We got food?"

"That we paid for, and sucked." The red head said, sighing. "Hey, let's go do something fun. Get this bad energy out of our systems." She said, looking down at him, but didn't get a response. She sat there a second, looking at the boy staring at the table, and noticing that he was suddenly more tense than before.

"By 'fun' you mean running of with different guys?" He said harshly, sitting up straight and giving her the coldest glare she'd ever seen from him.

She blinked, not expecting such a cold reaction.

"Why the hell would I want to hang out with someone like you? _Whore_."

Her entire body froze. The last word stung, causing tears to swell up in her eyes, and he just stood up and walked towards the door of the Guild Hall. His eyes were so dark, an emotion inside of him that she had never seen before, and for a second she had no idea what to do.

"Natsu, what the hell is wrong with you? You never treat a lady like that!" Kana yelled, overhearing part of the conversation and seeing Kasai's reaction.

"Natsu, what's wrong?" She asked, snapping out of it spinning in her spot, jumping to her feet, and running after him even though he was walking quickly. At the sound of Kana's voice he had stopped, but he was already halfway across the room. The red head reached her hand out and gently placed it on his left shoulder, hoping the contact would calm him down. "Why don't we go home and rest? It was a pretty stress-" A sudden impact to her chest caused her to fly into a wall, her body colliding with it with a loud sound, and a secondary sound boomed in her ears when Natsu ran at her and punched the wall next to her with considerable strength, splintering the wood.

"Woah, Natsu! Chill out!" Gray yelled, along with several other Guild members startled by the situation and trying to reason with the dragonslayer. They could tell there was something off about the way were fighting- usually they would throw punches back and forth, Natsu rarely landing a hit on her, but for some reason she was frozen still.

"Natsu, stop trying to hurt your girlfriend!" Happy yelled half-jokingly, but keeping his distance.

Kasai stared at him, pure rage in his eyes, a side of him that she'd never seen. The closest may have been when he was forced to power the artificial dragon, but even that didn't compare to the hurt and anger he was flowing from his body in flames.

She couldn't speak.

He was becoming more and more engulfed by his flames.

"You're pathetic. You don't care about anyone but yourself. You make me sick."

Her stomach churned. Chest compressed painfully.

Gray was the first to try and pull him away, but Natsu punched him away easily, causing him to fly and collide with the bar across the room. Natsu wasn't pulling any punches, and was showing his _true_ power at that moment.

The action caused her to regain her senses.

"Natsu, please calm down. Let's talk about whatever-" She spoke, as calmly as she could, but then barely dodged his second fist that tried to hit her face. The female ducked, tackled him backwards, and then jumped a few yards away, missing a few fireballs headed in her direction.

"Natsu, what is with you?!" Lucy yelled, but the pink-haired man didn't acknowledge her, instead just charging towards Kasai.

"You think I'm pathetic?" The red head said, trying to get herself and Natsu back to their common senses. She was still shaken up, and her literal shaking would prevent her from performing any magic other than fire magic. "You're attacking a fellow fire user with fire!" She yelled, dodging several of his punches and kicks, and then doing a sweep of her foot to knock him down.

Kasai looked at the surrounding people, seeing that multiple people were readying their magic.

"Let me handle it, guys. His fire magic won't hurt me. I don't know what's wrong with him, but he's out of control and dangerous." She told them, but when she looked back over to Natsu, saw a dark grin on his face.

Her heart sunk. 'He wouldn't. He wouldn't let me lose me arm.'

"Fire magic won't hurt you, huh?" He asked, chuckling darkly.

"Does anyone know what's wrong with him?" Lucy asked, looking to anyone for answers. "Some kind of spell, maybe?"

"A spell is most likely," Erza said, watching the couple fight, and how Kasai was purposely trying to make him use up his energy while causing minimal damage. That grin Natsu had made while questioning her immunity to fire made her worried, and she knew that if Kasai got hurt, she'd have to step in and fight him. In the mean time, she needed a plan.

The only reason why the rest of the Guild wasn't joining in the fight was because Kasai seemed to be redirecting his fire magic well, along with sucking it up and using it to fuel her own attacks, and seemed to have it under control. It didn't stop them from preparing to join the fight, though.

"I loved you, and this is how you repay me?" Natsu asked, throwing punches at her and getting increasingly annoyed at missing. To increase his annoyance, when he barely missed her, she would suck the flames from his fists.

"I could say the same!" She replied haughtily, but he knew that his words were having an effect on her by her slowed reaction time. "Come on, Natsu, tell me why you're doing this!"

And then he faked a punch, grabbed her and crushed the metal armor on her left arm, the one injured by her blood magic. Her smirked at her as fear became apparent in her eyes.

"STOP!" She screamed, punching him with all her strength and flamed elbow adding power, causing him to fly backwards and crash into the wall, breaking it and crashing into the street. "Gray, use ice magic on this arm, quick!" She yelled after throwing the useless broken armor to the side

"Why?"

"Just DO IT!" She yelled, and he did as she asked.

Natsu was still down. She had a few seconds.

"Kasai, what's wrong?" Erza asked, stepping forward as the woman fell to one knee, looking to be in pain with her iced arm. Lucy and Mirajane ran up to her, asking what was wrong, but didn't receive an answer. When they saw her face they could tell that she was in extreme pain. "Kasai is hurt. Looks like we'll have to take Natsu down." Erza said, looking to her companions.

The injured dragonslayer, biting back the pain, looked down at her iced arm. Beneath the ice, she could see and feel the blood magic reacting to Natsu's fire magic, but it wasn't predicting exactly like she had thought.

It was spreading.

It wasn't just going to take her arm. It was going to kill her.

"Idiot!" She said through strained teeth, and tried to take deep breaths, to meditate past the pain. The blood magic, which had been stuck in that part of her arm, was now leaping through the entirety of her arm, causing her skin to look like there were bugs crawling beneath it and black looking goop to sometimes jump out and dive back into her arm.

"Please, Kasai, what's wrong?" Mirajane asked, watching the strange movements beneath the icy spell.

"If I don't do this right… I'm going to die." She said, and finally looked back up to where she left Natsu.

He was just getting up, surrounded by his colleagues who were determined to take him down, fire stronger than ever.

"We should get you to the healer," Mirajane said, but Kasai shook her head. "This is no time to be-" She started to yell at her, but got cut off by the dying woman.

"There's no time for that!" Kasai interrupted, looking at the scared woman. "If I don't do something now, I'm dead." She said, beginning a spell that she had been working on to counteract the effects of the original spell. She had finished it a few days ago, but had hoped that she'd never need to use it again.

The original spell, Needle Spray, caused her blood magic to fly out and attack specific people, and because she did it wrong, the blood magic got stuck and basically acted like gasoline when introduced to fire magic, cooking her skin to create the grotesque decayed appearance.

She had a theory that, if she regulated the blood magic to the rest of her body, it could redistribute it through her body and not cause such a destructive outcome. She theorized that the only reason it reacted that way was because it was too much magic in one area, and without an outlet, it attacked itself. Blood magic attacking the user in unpredictable ways was a reason that no one used it. It was also why she only used it as a last resort, in small amounts, and if she was injured and there was minimal risk.

So, if she made her blood circulate the blood magic by increasing her heart rate rapidly, it could save her life and open up an entire world of blood magic spells that she couldn't do before.

Or, like gasoline, her entire body would explode.

"If this doesn't work, I'm sorry for tramatizing you. Know that you guys are great, and I love all of you. Here goes nothing." Kasai said, making eye contact with Lucy. Against the objections of some of the people around her, including Happy, she cast the spell. "Blood magic: circulation technique!"

Once the spell was cast, the ice magic broke, turning into shards of ice on the ground.

The blood magic, filled with magic power, began coursing through her body.

Her heart rate was beating too fast.

She cast a healing spell to prevent damage to her heart and any other organ, making sure that any organ damaged from the increased bloodflow would repair itself immediately rather than build up. The particular healing spell was something she was particularly proud of for finding, and in her opinion, was the reason blood magic never worked in the past.

The blood magic, much like her arm, swam through her body, sometimes jumping out of her skin and back into it like dolphins on the sea.

"Natsu stop!" She heard someone yell, and when she looked up, Natsu was flying towards her with his fist aimed right at her.

In that split second, she was able to take in all of her surroundings.

Several of the Guild members were injured and on the ground.

Erza, Elfman, and several others were running towards Natsu and her, trying to prevent him from hurting her.

Mirajane and Lucy were crying.

That split second felt like an eternity for her, taking in every sense and analyzing countless aspects of the situation faster than she ever had before. She could see every outfit, every facial expression, every smell, the very book that was lying forgotten on a table that was about to be knocked over, and will consequently cause the book to fall on the ground.

The book was Levy's, an ancient poetry book.

And then Kasai realized something.

She had _power_.

Magic, strength, energy, and lots of it.

She reached her hand up, catching Natsu's fist, and the wave of energy produced by their forces meeting caused Mirajane and Lucy to fall back. Kasai looked up at him, absolutely delighted, and now completely encased fire, power coursing through her veins. "Thanks, Natsu. You just helped me figure out the coolest mystery EVER!" She said, and reached her other hand up and flicked his forehead, the force causing him to fly at the ceiling and create a hole in the roof.

Kasai stood up, looking at her still black arm and other healthy arm.

"K-K-Kasai!?" Lucy asked, scooting away from her.

"It wasn't just a build up of my own magical energy…" The red head spoke to herself, relishing in the magic coursing through her veins and feeling stronger than she ever had before.

"Now we have two out of control dragonslayers!?" Someone yelled, looking back and forth between the dragonslayer on the roof peering in on the edge of the hole he made, and the other one standing in the middle of the Guild Hall completely on fire and producing more heat than Natsu.

The original attack must have not only sucked out the magic from her enemies when she first used it, but brought it back to her and stored itself in her arm. Since she never circulated the blood magic, in fear of it killing her, it just sat there eating away at her.

"Kasai, listen to me!" Erza yelled, finally getting her attention. "Try to lure Natsu to the edge of town so that he doesn't destroy it!"

The woman nodded, and looked back at Natsu, who was preparing a fire attack at her. Although it wouldn't hurt her, it would probably destroy the entire Guild Hall, based on how huge the attack looked from her angle.

She jumped, slamming her body into his and disrupting his spell, and landed a few yards away on the roof.

"What the hell is going on here?!" She heard Makarov yell from below, and chuckled.

Kasai started running towards the edge of town, just as Erza had instructed, with Natsu hot on her trail.

2.

Natsu's power seemed endless, and since Kasai used his magic to fuel her own, and vice versa, it was like a never ending battle.

The Fairy Tale Guild watched from the sidelines as the two dragonslayers fought, not holding back, and using intense attacks that would have otherwise destroyed the town. Luckily they just smashed giant rocks, and any stray attacks that went towards the town were snuffed out by Gray's ice magic.

"Why doesn't Kasai just knock him out?" Erza asked, glaring at them. "She's willing to fight him at full strength, but not me!?"

"That's what you're worried about?" Lucy asked, a sweatdrop appearing on her head.

"It's possible that her knockout spell doesn't work with fellow dragonslayers, or fire magic users." Makarov suggested, actually starting to enjoy watching the fight. "It's not everyday that you see two fire dragonslayers fight."

"Want to wager on the winner?" Gray asked him, causing Lucy to give him a weird look.

"Your friend is under a spell making him attack his girlfriend and you guys are placing bets? What if they're in trouble!?" Lucy yelled, causing them to smile awkwardly.

"Whatever spell is cast on him is causing him to attack Kasai, and Kasai alone. Whenever anyone else tried to fight him, he completely ignored them." Erza tried to explain.

"Spells like this are usually under a time limit. So, as long as Kasai keeps him occupied until then, he should be fine." Makarov reasoned, and then bet $50 on Kasai winning.

"But you don't know that for sure! For all we know, it could kill her!"

"If it gets to that point, we'll step in. But look at them closer," Erza said, causing Lucy to squint their eyes at them. "Kasai may have been caught off guard earlier, but whatever spell she used caused her to become more powerful than she usually is. She's toying with him right now."

"No way, Natsu is totally going to win. She may be good at sneak attacks, but Natsu has got the upper hand in strength." Another wizard stated, walking up to them.

"You bet on Natsu, huh?" Lucy asked, not believing her fellow wizards would stoop this low. She sighed. "I'll bet $20 on them tying."

3.

Kasai had gotten overly confident.

Her molasses spell failed, cracking as Natsu threw a punch at her, and completely shattering her defense spell. She had assumed that since it worked on Laxus the spell would be powerful enough against anyone, but Natsu proved otherwise.

"Shit." She whispered, just as his fist connected with her face, and caused her to fall backwards.

He then did an uppercut punch to her stomach, the force causing her to go several yards into the air, and then he kicked her again to make her go higher up. She coughed up blood, the air in her lungs escaping with it.

And his foot crashed down on her back, with all of his strength, causing her to smash into the ground painfully and cause energy to ripple away from her like a pebble in a pond. Even the wizards watching felt it and cringed.

Still conscious, she managed to roll onto her back, just in time to watch Natsu come crashing down on her, punching her head. Just then, she could see the absolute power of a dragon in him, so powerful that she wondered if she would survive the next attack. She also wondered if he would go after the other members of Fairy Tale after defeating her.

The thought just made her more determined to beat him.

 _Today is not the day to die._

Her blood magic softened the blow considerably, the blood that she coughed up earlier shielding her forehead, and any magic he used to enhance his strength was sucked into the shield and into her own body. He fell on her, suddenly weakened, body going limp.

She breathed in the remainder of his fire magic that danced along his skin.

He lay there on her, both of them breathing hard, his face in the cracked rock he had previously thrown her into. They were both sweating, despite most of it evaporating from the heat. Kasai, catching her breath, contemplated how to get the boy off of her so that she could use her healing magic. "What… what happened?"

If she didn't know any better, she'd say that he sounded like the old Natsu again.

"Why am I eating dirt?" He asked, sitting up and spitting out the rocks that had somehow gotten in his mouth. The dragonslayer's legs straddled her waist, and although the circumstances weren't great, she couldn't help but enjoy the perfect view of his abs, chiseled chest, and muscular arms. At some point he had lost his vest in the fight.

"Are you back to normal?" She asked, forcing herself to look at his face.

Confused, he blinked at her. "Normal?" He asked, and started looking at his surroundings. What used to be desert with large rock fixtures was now rumble, leaving a scene that he didn't recognize. "Where are we? Why are all of our friends watching us?"

While he was talking, Kasai took the opportunity to cast her healing magic on herself. It would be another day until her body was back to full strength, but she only be sore until then.

"Someone put a spell on you to make you attack me. I had to kick your ass." She said, smirking at him, and causing him to blink at her.

"Then why am I on top?" He asked, smirking at their position.

"You got a lucky shot at me. Only one, though." She said, smirking back.

"Natsu! Are you back to normal!?" Happy asked, flying towards them.

Excited by his friend's voice, Natsu looked up at his small companion, a grin encompassing his face. "Yeah! I don't know what I did, but whatever happened is done now." He said, pushing himself into a standing position and then offering a hand to Kasai.

She reached out and took it, an equally wide smile.

"Wait, your arm! Why isn't the armor on it!? Crap, is it going to fall off now!?" He asked freaking out but only causing her grin to widen. The group was running over to them, most of them annoyed at the lack of clear winner.

"Nope, because I am fucking BRILLIANT!" she cheered, ridiculously happy and sending fireworks into the sky. "Not only am I keeping my arm, but I figured out how to use a 2,000 year old spell that no one has accomplished since then! I am awesome!" She cheered, shooting more fireworks into the sky.

"Who won!? Was it a tie!?" Lucy asked, many of the other wizards asking the same question.

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Natsu asked, "I don't even remember what happened but you guys took bets on us!?"

In her cheers and ignoring them, Kasai looked up just in time to see a man in the distance, hiding behind a rock.

Now that her senses were better than ever, she could tell who it was.

Tanashimi.

"Tanashimi, you drugged Natsu, didn't you!?" She yelled, pointing at him and causing him to jump. He likely thought that he was too far away from them to notice, since he was using binoculars, and didn't expect the fire woman's recent upgrade.

The woman ran after him, Natsu close behind at hearing that name, along with the rest of the Guild.

"I don't know what's going on, but I wanna punch something!" Natsu yelled, running beside the fellow fire breather.

Tanashimi ran away from them, and a mysterious door opened in the middle of no where, revealing a house invisible from the outside. Once Natsu and Kasai crossed some kind of barrier, the rest of the group ran into the wall and couldn't get through, causing the painful collision of several Fairy Tale wizards.

The fire Dragonslayers found themselves surrounded by wizards, at least 30, and Tanashimi behind them. "Haha, you fell into my trap!"

"Is that the guy that hurt you?" Natsu asked Kasai, and she nodded. "Then it looks like you guys are trapped in here with us." He said, both of them giving a cocky smirk and lighting up their fire magic.

"Boss, you said only Taiyo would get through!"

"The barrier was supposed to keep out non-dragonslayers after Tanashimi crossed the line," One of the wizards said, all of them starting to get intimidated by the large amount of power emanating from them.

"Blood magic: NEEDLE SPRAY!" Kasai started, further confirming her theory as bullet like blood needles shot out from her body, attacked various wizards, drained their magic, and then brought back to her to combine with her own and make her flames even more intense.

They both started using their fire magic, taking down all of the wizards in mere seconds, and Natsu finally had the pleasure of beating the hell out of Tanashimi. "This is for Kasai!" He yelled, punching him. "This is for her mom!" Punched him again. "This is for me, because I don't like you!" and then he just continued punching him repeatedly.

By the time that the rest of the Guild got past the barrier, the violence was over, and all they had to do was pry Natsu away from the weak businessman and contact the police.

"But I'm still fired up!" Natsu whined as they left the building, Gray throwing him out with his ice magic.

"So am I," Kasai commented, nearing him outside of the now not-invisible building. "I've absorbed the magic of so many people, I don't know what to do with all the energy."

He smiled. "We could finish our fight?" He asked, standing up and causing many of the wizards to face palm.

"Seriously!? How are you two still standing!?" Kana asked, looking back and forth between the couple and the building filled with defeated wizards, none of whom looked weak or easy to take down.

"You just don't want them to finish the fight because you bet on them tying." A blue-haired wizard stated from behind her.

4.

That night, Natsu passed out as soon as his head hit the pillow. Kasai wasn't quite as lucky, still thinking about the day and her mind racing with the events that had unfolded.

Happy, like Natsu, fell asleep on his little cat bed in the living room within seconds.

The red head changed into her pajamas, underwear and tank top, and sat upright next to Natsu. Her red hair cascade down her back, no longer in the braid, and lightly tickled the man's arm.

His snoring was obnoxious, but she loved watching him sleep. He looked so gentle and calm, completely contrasting his awake counterpart.

 _Whore_.

He called her that today, and the memory caused her head to hurt. Tears swelled up in her eyes, whether he had been under a spell or not, the words came out of his mouth.

 _You make me sick_.

What if the spell was to reveal his true feelings for her?

Tears, irrational or not, began falling from her eyes.

In his sleep, Natsu reached his arm up and pulled her down to him. The gesture, although pulling her at an awkward angle with her butt in the air, was enough to stop her tears. "Sleep." He grumbled as she shifted her weight to get comfortable under the blankets. Once she was settled he kissed her forehead and cuddled closer to her, his arms securely around her. One supported her neck while the other rested on the curve of her hip and wrapped around her back.

She kissed his cheek, causing him to smile in his sleep.

Even in his sleep, he knew how to make her smile and forget her troubles.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note:** Since the temple I talk about has similar Buddhist beliefs, I'm just going to call it a Buddhist Temple instead of 'Temple', since the word conjures the Mormon Temple image in my mind.

 **Chapter 11**

 _Ex_

At the Guild Hall one day, the girls had somehow split off from the guys and formed their own conversation circle. They talked about random things, ranging from gossip to fighting strategies, and somehow stumbled onto the conversation of their 'first time having sex'.

"God, my first time sucked. No fun at all." Kana groaned, a surprising number of sympathetic groans matched hers.

"My first time wasn't that bad, but the second time…" Erza trailed off, shivering at the memory and looking grossed out. "Never again…"

"My first time wasn't that bad. He just turned into an ass hole afterwards." Kasai commented, not fond of the memory.

"I know Natsu can be a bit hard-headed, but-" Lucy spoke, but was surprised when the red head interrupted her.

"Natsu wasn't my first. I lost my virginity at 14." She said, causing Lucy and Levy's jaws to drop. Unfortunately, the pink-haired man decided to eavesdrop at the worst possible moment.

"Th-that's only a few years older than me." Wendy said awkwardly, and the group of women looked at her.

"Sorry Wendy, we forgot how young you are. We can talk about something else." Lucy said, and then was almost knocked out of her chair when Natsu came out of nowhere. Squeezed between the two wizards, hands slamming down on the table, he yelled in Kasai's face.

"WHAT?! WHY THE HELL DIDN'T I KNOW THAT!?" He yelled, getting the attention of the entire Guild.

"Calm down, Natsu. I lost my virginity at 12." Kana offered, trying to simmer the situation. She went back to drinking her barrel of alcohol.

"Who was it!? Was it that Star guy!? I knew there was something funny going on between the two of you!" He yelled, pointing at her and standing on the table.

Her eye twitched, hating that Natsu had to drag the entire room of wizards into the private conversation. "I told you, Star and Comet are gay! And they were my closest friends as a kid so would you shut up about them!?"

"You make out with naked guys and expect me to be okay with it!?"

"We didn't make out and if you think _that_ was making out, then you made out with them too you hypocrite!" She yelled, meeting his angry glare by slamming her hands onto the table and getting her own face in his. Unfortunately, yelling at people was a specialty of Natsu's, so he didn't back down like she wanted.

"Well how about we both make out with a naked girl to even the odds!? Lucy, take your clothes off!"

"Not gonna happen you creep!" Lucy yelled, and the surrounding people laughed at Natsu's unintentional attempt at a three-way. Kasai, so caught off guard by his blatant disregard for the sensitivity of the topic, just sat back down for a second and watched them bicker.

"Come on, we're friends, aren't we!?"

"Not like that we're not!"

"It's not I haven't seen your boobs before, and Kasai's a girl so she's already seen tons of them before." He tried to reason, but then got punched in the face by his girlfriend instead. "What the hell was that for!?"

"For being an idiot! When the hell did you see Lucy topless?!" The fire woman yelled, suddenly fired up.

"Everyone here has! Remember that play a while back and Erza ripped off her clothes!?"

"Please don't remind everyone." Lucy pleaded, slumping down on the table and crying.

"Or the other time when…! Actually, I have no idea why you did that. I was pretty sick at the time. Gray was being weird, too." He said, suddenly lost in thought trying to remember the Nirvana mission. What he didn't remember was that it had been a celestial spirit pretending to be her, but either way, he and the other guys got an eye-full of her breasts.

"You're hopeless." Kasai said, unintentionally bringing his wrath back to her.

"And why the hell do you have to keep so many secrets, huh!?"

"Once I came out of hiding I never lied to you." She said, suddenly exhausted by the conversation and just wanting to go home. "It's not my fault you never bothered to ask." The red head said, standing from the table and walking away, hands shoved in her pockets.

"Ha, idiot. She's probably going to break up with you now." Gajeel commented from nearby, causing Natsu to start yelling at him instead. The memory of her first boyfriend replayed in her head, and walking away from the Guild, she wished that she could undo that decision 6 years ago.

1.

Fourteen years old Taiyo could usually be found in one of three places.

The first place: the beach, training with her mother.

Second: Fighting and sparring on the Temple grounds.

Third: The temple library, home of the biggest collection of ancient spells in the world.

Today, her mother was busy working and she couldn't find a willing sparring partner, so she found herself studying away in the library by herself on the sunny day. On days like this it was extremely rare to find anyone in the stuffy dark room, only lit by torches or candles, deep underground.

Although Taiyo enjoyed reading and valued the knowledge they held, she never could gain an appreciation for the smell of old books. Through her life, whenever she met bookworms, they always said that they loved the smell, and she could never understand why. Most of those people were reading books only a few centuries old, though, and not thousands of years old.

Taiyo wasn't allowed to attend the classes taught at the temple, given her gender, and technically she wasn't supposed to have access to the library either. To her luck and appreciation, they made an exception to the library rule. She couldn't attend the lectures, and didn't try sneaking in under the threat of having her 'library pass' revoked, but she could read and make use of her sparring matches with the other students. None of them would give her actual lessons, or directly tell her what they learned in those classes, so most of the information she managed to learn on her own.

When she heard the students complain about how boring the classes were, and how they had to sit still for hours at a time, she wasn't sad to miss it.

It's one of the reasons, however, that she got into blood magic. The students were all told to never go near it for fear of it killing them, but she never got the memo.

"Hey Taiyo," A familiar voice spoke, causing the young girl to look up. She smiled, blushing slightly at the sight of her crush.

"Kiken." She greeted, butterflies fluttering around her stomach. "I'm surprised to see you here."

2.

"Kasai, are you alright?" Happy asked, bringing the young woman out of her thoughts. She looked up at him, surprised by his presence, but not unhappy about it.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm surprised you're not with Natsu, though."

"He's an idiot. I wanted to make sure that you were okay." He answered. She was touched by his concern, having recently wondered if he hated her for spending so much time with Natsu. He could be a sarcastic and mean little cat, but sometimes he was genuinely oblivious to it, and Kasai simply couldn't tell.

"Thanks Happy." The red head said. "How about we go eat some fish?" She asked, and his face lit up.

"You mean it!?"

"Yeah, we can even do our own fishing. Know any good spots?" She asked, enjoying his light-hearted mood.

"Do I? Follow me!" He said, flying off ahead of her and causing her to run.

3.

"What happened to your arm?" Taiyo noticed one day at the Buddhist Temple, walking into her crush.

"It's nothing." He said, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. His arm was tucked away in a sling, partially exposed beneath his jacket, and she looked at him with concern. "Want to get lunch with me?" He asked, as small blush of his own tinting his cheeks.

"I… I'd love to." She stuttered, mentally kicking herself for it.

The boy was about her age and the most attractive, physically and intellectually, to her. He was strong, smart, and never said the wrong thing. Sometimes they would study together for hours, with similar learning curves and appetite for knowledge, making them the perfect study partners. Air magic, fire magic, healing magic, blood magic- they studied almost every type of magic together.

When he reached out his hand to hers, it felt like a dream come true.

He was perfect.

4.

"You're a lot cooler than I thought you were." Happy said, enjoying his third fish that she had caught for him.

"Food is the way to your heart, eh?" She joked.

"Fish is!" He said happily, causing her to chuckle.

They were sitting by a small river, Kasai leaning against a tree and Happy just a few feet away, enjoying the beautiful weather. The grass was green, the breeze was perfect, flowers were in bloom, and the trees provided shade against the harsh sun.

Perfect.

She decided to take her shoes off and enjoy the grass between her toes, relishing the wonderful weather and calm, relaxed surroundings.

A few minutes passed, and when she looked back over to Happy, found him fast asleep with a full belly.

Kasai suddenly realized that she hadn't meditated in days. Given her recent upgrade in power, she was surprised she hadn't done it yet.

Criss-crossing her legs, hands resting on her knees, she slowly breathed in and out.

In….

Out….

Feel the magic move through her body, every organ working, her heart pumping, the wind gently caressing her skin. With the blood magic flowing freely through her veins, she realized that she could feel much more of her body than before.

The variety of magics flowing through her veins was an interesting sensation, and although not bad, was unusual.

In….

Out….

5.

"Yeah, I was with Taiyo yesterday." She overheard, and stopped just outside of the mess hall door and listening in. Because she was a girl, she wasn't allowed to eat at the temple, so she couldn't go inside; her heart beat fast, nonetheless, and her cheeks blushed red at the mere sound of _his_ voice. Even if she was allowed, she wouldn't be able to bring herself to walk inside. Her nerves were so wired, she feared that her legs might buckle beneath her. "I totally banged her." He spoke, and her entire body froze. Her heart stopped.

"Seriously, dude?"

"And she's pretty hot, too, underneath all those baggy clothes. If you get the chance, you should totally bone her." His voice, so perfect and articulated, caused tears to fall down her cheeks.

"Hey, don't talk about her like that, you creep! She's our friend!" The voices of Star and Comet rang out, and she could hear a scuffle happen. They were fighting.

"Wow, take it easy, she's just a chick! That's what they're made for. Why do you think girls aren't allowed here? They're for fucking and having babies."

Every word stabbed at her chest.

She hugged the notebook tighter to her, short nails digging into the paper.

"I'm going to kick your ass, you creep!" David yelled, and that was the last thing that she heard, her legs carrying her as fast as she could away from that place.

6.

"So there you are," Natsu spoke, interrupting her meditation.

He stood there, leaning against the tree and looking down at her, that cocky grin on his face.

 _You're pathetic._ The words repeated in her mind, and she looked down, avoiding his gaze. _If you get the chance, you should totally bone her._

"You're still mad at me, aren't you? Look, it caught me off guard, alright?" Natsu tried to explain, annoyed that she wouldn't look at him. He kept his voice calm and low, as to not wake up Happy, who was sound asleep with several fish skeletons around him. "Our first time… it was my first time, alright? I had just assumed that it was yours, too."

She still didn't look up at him, making him stare at her red hair instead.

"Come on… I'm sorry, alright? I overreacted." He apologized, and sat down in front of her, folding his legs and trying to look at her face. It was uncharacteristically concealed by her red hair, which had been unbraided and created a curtain around her. He leaned forward, trying to peer into the shadowed face, but she recoiled from him.

"If it makes you feel any better…" She started, tears landing on the grass between her legs. "Star and Comet beat him up. David, too." She told him, her throat closing up. Natsu sat there, watching and listening to her, hating to hear the sadness in her voice. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, I'm the idiot, remember? I'm the one that needs to apologize, not you." He said, softly, and reaching into the curtain of hair to wipe away the tears. His hand, warm against her skin, gently cupped the side of her face, thumb brushing away the tears. "If Star and Comet beat up this jerk that made you cry, then I like them." He said, causing her to laugh. "And if I ever meet this guy, I'm going to kill him."

Again, she laughed, glancing up at him. Her vision was blurry from the tears; but she could see the sun shining down on him, and his eyes glistening cutely against the light, and messy hair moving slightly with the breeze. She looked down again. "He… he probably died… with the monks."

"Too bad. I was looking forward to pummeling the freak."

Again, she laughed, despite how clogged and swollen her throat felt. "So… I was your first?"

"My first and my only." He replied, the sweet words causing her to cry again.

"I… I love you." She choked out, afraid to make eye contact, fearful of his response.

"I love you, too."

Their eyes locked, Natsu gently pulled the hair out of her face, and started to lean in for a kiss.

"Natsu, what did you do now?!" Happy yelled, ruining the moment, and pointing at Natsu accusatorily with his paw. "Stop making her cry!"

"I didn't- I… damn it, you just ruined a beautiful moment!" He said, yelling at the blue cat.

"What, are you going to punch me too, wife beater?" Happy asked, referring to the major fight they had the other day with their fire magic. Pissed off, Natsu got up and ran at him, causing the little blue cat to scream and fly away. "Kasai, run while you have the chance!"

"Damn it, Happy, I don't hit my girlfriend!"

"Yes you have!"

"Well, yeah, but we were sparring and she punched me too!"

"So you admit to hitting your girlfriend!"

"When you say it that way it sounds terrible!"

Kasai, watching them run around and yell each other, couldn't help but chuckle and wipe away her tears.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

 _Blood Magic_

They were all sitting in a wagon the next day, Natsu laying motion sick with his head on Kasai's lap as she read, meanwhile the rest of the group chatted about random things. Today's topic of conversation was Lucy's love life, which Happy loved to bring up and torture her about.

The fire woman, absorbed in her notes, suddenly figured something out.

Her body tensed.

She read it again.

Her gaze shifted to Natsu, who lay there absolutely miserable, on the verge of puking and groaning every few seconds. She reached her hand to his hair, gently turning his face to the side, and lifted a chunk of his hair to look at his neck. Her eyes narrowed, looking at the small mark, a sinking feeling in her gut.

Whoever cast the spell on Natsu used blood magic.

She went back to her notes, rereading some parts and trying to learn more about what was required for the spell that was used on him.

Apparently blood magic has a major weakness she didn't know about: if a person is being manipulated by blood magic, then even the smallest contact, before or after, of someone else's blood magic will render it useless. Erza, for example, would be immune to this specific kind of blood magic because she was exposed to Kasai's magic in the past. It left some kind of marking on her, which makes her only vulnerable to Kasai's blood magic.

She had never used blood magic on Natsu before the fight, when she used it to defend herself from his punch, so that exposure canceled out the first contact with blood magic.

'Wait, why would that be the case…' she suddenly pondered, realizing that for the rule to work, the first person to use the blood magic on someone would need to be the 'dominant' one, and she shouldn't have been able to break the spell on him.

As she contemplated it, she looked back to Natsu, and suddenly realized the answer.

She translated it wrong.

As with all other forms of element magic, it's whoever is most skilled with the magic, not who comes first.

With that in mind, she reread the text, accounting for translation issues, and it worked.

She was a better blood magic user than whoever cast the spell on Natsu. The 'marking' rule still applied, where somehow her blood magic leaves a mark on her victims, and makes blood magic useless for any of their enemies. Without realizing it, she was creating a future defense for _any person_ that she had used her blood magic on.

Something about it felt wrong, and she suddenly wondered if Tanashimi really was behind Natsu's rage attack, or if someone else had done it and he just took advantage of the situation.

"Something wrong, Kasai?" Gray asked, noticing her perplexed expression.

She looked up, locking eyes with the ice man. "Until I know more about it, I'd rather not share. I just have a theory."

Through the smile, he could tell that she was worried about something, which was something that didn't happen often. Most of the time she was confident she could handle anything, even when Tanashimi was after her, and hid any concern she did have extremely well. But her eyes betrayed her now, and Gray wondered if he should question her about it. "I'd like to hear it."

Her face fell, slightly, but picked back up again. "Well… I stumbled across a spell in my notes. It sounds eerily similar to Natsu's rage attack."

"So you think someone cast a spell on him using ancient magic?" He asked, surprised.

"I don't know for certain… but he does have a mark on his neck, in the exact place the spell calls for." She explained, awkward about sharing such discrete information with him. Although she trusted her friends, it was information that if not controlled, could end in her demise.

"What does the spell do, exactly?" He asked, and Kasai suddenly realized that all eyes were on her, the conversation between the other three had ceased.

"Well, I'm still learning about it and translating… but basically, the spell caster uses blood magic to enter through the victim's neck, and implant a very specific idea into their head."

"Gross." Lucy shuddered, Happy agreeing with her. "So you're saying that someone else's blood was in his brain?"

"It's just a theory, so don't get too worried about it." She reminded her, not helping the blonde's tremors and crying. "… and I haven't even told you the worst of it." Kasai added, biting down on the wall of her mouth.

"And what's that?" Erza asked, face serious and set in concentration.

"A spell like this... would likely require practicing on dead bodies."

Lucy's tears increased considerably. "Dead bodies!?" Happy asked, looking at her worried.

"You're saying that someone practiced their magic on _dead bodies_?" Gray asked, causing the woman to nod.

"So long as the bodies were organ donors, I see no problem with it. That's how wizards used to practice healing magic." Erza spoke up, causing Gray to agree with her reluctantly.

"Assuming they were willing donors, I agree with you." Kasai agreed, worry written across her face.

"You don't think that Tanashimi was behind it, do you? You think a… blood magic wizard is out there?" Gray asked, trying to wrap his head around the idea of blood magic in general.

"He had a lot of powerful wizards with him, some being the best of the best… it's possible that they simply didn't use blood magic on me when they could have, and instead relied on other magic. The level of complexity required of this spell…"

"You're a blood wizard, aren't you?" Erza asked directly, causing her to divert her gaze.

"I use it as back up magic and in small doses… until recently, I'd only known 2 or 3 minor spells." She admitted. "But that's only because of dire circumstances. I've always been cautious with blood magic. It's useful in a pinch if you use it right. If you don't…."

"It's dangerous." Gray finished for her, and she nodded.

"A common side effect is the blood cannibalizing the user." She said, causing everyone to give her a weird look.

"And you still study it?" Erza asked, surprised, and suddenly realizing something. "That's what happened to your arm, isn't it?"

"Aaaand that's why you're an S-Class wizard." Kasai complimented, surprised that she figured it out. Without realizing it, she touched her damaged arm, currently covered by armor. "I'd rather not tell you the details of it. Not yet, anyway. I can tell you that I'm fine now."

"So th-th-th-that means… y-y-y-you've practiced on d-d-d-dead bodies?" Lucy asked, stuttering horribly.

"No, I don't practice on dead bodies. I only practice any new magic on myself. Hence…" She said, taking her armor off, and showing them her blackened disfigured arm. Lucy finally passed out.

"Why study something so deadly?" Erza asked, confused as to her reasoning, and now slightly suspicious of her.

"In my defense, this specifically happened because I was about to get my head cut off, Wendy was in trouble, and I had no other option. Actually it's a good thing that I use it." She said, now smiling proudly at herself. "Anyway, you're immune to any blood magic cast by a wizard that is less skilled than me. At least, according to my notes and what happened with Natsu."

"What? Seriously?" Gray asked, confused.

"Don't worry, Erza. I didn't put anything in your brain, nor do I know how… I don't even want to, for that matter." She rambled. "Anyone that comes into contact with my blood magic will be unaffected by any one else's blood magic that is weaker than mine." She was grinning, giddy at the knowledge and feeling awesome. "Natsu went back to normal as soon as I used my blood magic as barrier from one of his attacks."

"So you've used blood magic on me?" Erza asked, looking peeved.

"It wasn't invasive or anything. Nothing like what happened to Natsu."

"What specifically did you do?"

"I like to keep my spell secret, sorry."

"Kasai…" She growled, looking ready to fight.

"Woah, hey, easy Erza. Most wizards don't like sharing their techniques, you shouldn't hold it against Kasai for not telling you hers." Gray tried to intervene, hoping that they wouldn't start fighting in such a small space.

"… So this new blood magic user," Erza spoke, calming down. "Who do you think it is?"

"I have no idea. But… they could have been at the temple I grew up near. If I could learn magic from the library, so could anyone else. It would also explain the civil war." She said, looking back down at her notes.

"No way…"

"It's just a theory. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told you any of it without doing more research."

"It's okay. If we really are against an enemy that strong, we should tell Makarov, even if it is just a theory. Better safe than sorry."

1.

It turned into a weekly game, now named "Capture the Kasai". While Kasai studied her notes, mostly oblivious to the game, random people would steal her away from Natsu and be chased by him. They would toss her from one person to another, dodging Natsu's attacks, and running for their lives.

Several people have admitted that it helped them on missions, and helped them save civilians that got in the middle of fights. So they used that as reason to justify the game.

During the game, one day, someone walked up to them. Kasai paid no attention, thinking it was just another player, when suddenly she looked up to find Levy sitting across from her. Thinking that it was a trap, Natsu growled at her, and then continued keeping an eye out for other people.

"Hey Kasai. How's it going?"

"It's going alright." She replied, also wondering if it was some sort of game strategy.

"Watcha reading?"

"Oh, just some notes from the temple I grew up at. I've already deciphered it, but I'm reading over it again to make sure I got it right."

"I heard that you study blood magic." Levy brought up, causing Kasai to give her a confused look. The young girl was sweet, and Kasai loved to talk with her about ancient texts, but she was certain that she never told her about blood magic. She seemed innocent and sweet enough.

"Who told you that?"

"Lucy brought it up." She said, causing the red head to frown.

"Seriously?"

"I was hoping that you could teach it to me?" The blue-haired woman said, causing Kasai to become confused again. "That's what your notes have been on, right? I read ancient pretty well."

"I, uh… that's not a good idea. Didn't Lucy bring up the 'dead bodies' part?"

"Yeah, but if you do it, it can't be that bad. Can I look at your notes?"

Something didn't seem right.

"Believe me, you don't want to learn it." Kasai tried to emphasize. "You really, really don't want to learn it."

"Yes I do."

"It requires a lot of trial and error. If you errored, you will die."

"That's fine. Now let me see your notes." She said, reaching for them, but Kasai pulled them out of her reach.

"Are you feeling alright, Levy?"

"Of course I am. I just really want to learn Blood Magic." She said, smiling sweetly at her, but the red head wasn't convinced. Levy wasn't usually this… pushy. The girl leaned towards her, reaching for the notes again, but the fire woman lightly swiped her hand away.

Suddenly she collapsed, her body landing on the table and slumping to the floor. "Levy!" She yelled, running over and turning her to lay on her back.

She noticed a small amount of blood drip on the floor from her neck, and when she turned her head slightly, noticed the tiny mark that had been on Natsu.

2.

"You're an idiot!" Makarov yelled, and bopped the woman on the head. "Do you have any idea why it's a lost magic? Because it makes people explode! I've seen it with my own eyes! Ninkapoop!" He yelled, hitting her head again, causing her to scowl at him. They were both currently in his office, alone, discussing Levy's condition and their problem at hand. "I've got enough to do deal with without blood magic users in my own guild!"

"Ooow. It's not like I misuse it. I'm not the one controlling Guild members with it."

"No, but you've gotten the attention of someone who does! He attacked my children and that's unacceptable!"

"Hey, calm down, Guild Master. No one has been hurt yet. Levy will wake up soon enough. Natsu did, after all."

"No, but it's just a matter of time! Idiot!" He said, giving her another bop on the head and so angry his face was turning red. "Didn't anyone at the temple tell you why blood magic is extinct?"

"Technically I wasn't taught anything there, since it was a boys-only club. I was only allowed to read their books and fight with the students. I did read the side effects, though."

"It causes the user to explode, idiot!"

"So does fire magic when used incorrectly. Dragonslayer magic is technically a lost magic, too."

"Your stupidity is so profound, I don't even know how to talk to you! You're perfect for Natsu!" He yelled, repeatedly hitting on the head and causing her to try and protect herself with her arms. "I've heard rumors for awhile now about a blood magic user stealing bodies, but I thought it would pass! You disgust me!"

"Woah, hey now, I don't steal bodies! I've never touched a corpse before!" She yelled, causing the old man to stop hitting her.

"There's no way to learn it without it. You had to!" He yelled, about to hit her again.

"Not for the spells I use!" She said, cringing, waiting for him to hit her again.

"That's not possible."

"Yes it is. I figured it out because I'm a genius." The red head said, grinning proudly.

"No, you're an idiot!" Makarov yelled, and started hitting her again.

About a half hour later, she left his office with several bumps on her head. When she reached the main hall, Mirajane was singing on stage, and Natsu ran to her when he saw her. "What happened?"

"Makarov hit me a lot." She whined. "He said we were a perfect match because we're both idiots."

3.

Natsu hated shopping with her.

He also hated leaving her alone, given her past of assassins attacking her when she was on her own.

So he had Happy join her one morning for her shopping, much to the cat's displeasure, while he slept for the rest of the morning on her bed.

On their way back home from the market, while Happy was happily munching away on a fish that she had bought him, they encountered a man from her past. They had been walking along the river in silence, Kasai carrying several bags of groceries, when a voice pierced the pleasant silence. "Excuse me," He spoke, and even those two words were enough for her to recognize the voice. She stopped moving.

The perfect voice.

The pleasant silence shattered, being replaced by memories that stabbed at her heart.

He was standing just a few yards away from her, wearing a trench coat and hat. If he hadn't said anything, she wouldn't have recognized him.

"What the hell do you want?" She asked, the tone of her voice causing Happy to turn and realize that she had stopped. "I thought you were dead."

"A little birdie told me that you're a blood magic user…. I was hoping that we could compare notes." He said, everything suddenly clicking in her head.

They studied blood magic together.

His arm was in a sling that day.

She hadn't thought anything of it at the time, but after her own mishap with the needle spray technique, that was likely what caused his injury. How he was still alive, she had no idea.

Last time they studied together, he sucked at Healing magic. She had been too infatuated with him at the time to admit that she understood it better than he did, so she instead told him that she couldn't comprehend it either, and studied something else.

"You're the one that used it on Levy and Natsu, aren't you?"

"Indeed."

"What? This is the blood magic guy!?" Happy asked, almost dropping his fish. Kasai ignored him, keeping her eyes on the cloaked figure before them.

"Are you also responsible for the death of our friends?"

"They weren't friends of mine. If you recall, they beat me up because of you."

"Answer me!" She yelled, her grip on the handle of her groceries tightening.

"I needed bodies. So I got them."

She grit her teeth together. Her jaw clenched shut. Happy flew back a bit, trying to hide behind the dragonslayer.

"Of course, after the mishap with my arm, I have other people use the magic for me. I've gotten good at teaching it to others."

"So you have them die to satisfy your obsession with it?" Her eyes were wide, staring at the man before her, unbelieving of the atrocities he's caused. She knew he was an ass hole, but seriously? Manipulating other people to use a form of magic you're too chicken to use?

"A necessary sacrifice." He smiled. She took a steady breath to calm her nerves. Not using her fire magic and burning him to a crisp was difficult. "Although, I heard that you've figured out how to get past the little exploding problem."

"I don't experiment and use other people's lives, if that's what you're implying."

"Right." He said sarcastically, as if not believing her statement, like Makarov. "How you got the answer, I don't care. I just want the answer."

"And what would you use it for? What can you possibly gain from all of this bloodshed?"

"Defeating Death, of course. The ultimate ambition of any great wizard."

"Tch. Then you're studying the wrong magic. Healing magic is more suited for that."

"If I can't achieve immortality, power is a close second." He said, smirking.

She hated looking at his face.

"I want your notes." He said, finally cutting to the chase. "I want them."

"Well, you're not getting them. I'll burn them before I let you have them." She said, glaring.

"You and I know you can't do that. After spending weeks, years on them, you'd never destroy them."

"You hurt my friends, past and present. I have no interest in helping you in your insane quest." She said, and then dropped her grocery bags onto the stone ground. "In fact, I think I'll just kick your ass!" The red head yelled, catching her hands on fire and running at him, only to have him disappear before her eyes.

She recognized his disappearance. Teleportation magic.

Costly, tricky, and effective. He was likely miles away by now.

Quickly, she looked for Happy, finding him floating by her fallen groceries. "Are you okay, Happy?"

"Aye… that guy was scary."

"You have no idea."

4.

"And you just let him get away?" Makarov accursedly asked.

"He used a teleportation magic. There was no way for me to know where he went." Kasai said, her hands shoved in her pockets but ready to protect her head if he decided to start hitting her again.

"Why do these bad guys keep showing up when I'm not there!?" Natsu yelled, pissed off.

"Considering that he has other people use blood magic until they explode, I wouldn't be surprised if he has other dangerous tricks up his sleeve. For that reason I'm glad you weren't there." She said, looking at him.

"What's his name?"

"Kiken Sou. If he hadn't teleported I probably would have killed him."

"Do you two have a history?" Makarov asked. She didn't answer.

"You do seem extra pissed off since you saw him. I know he's a blood user whatever, but you're usually more calm about this stuff." Natsu commented, noticing her muscles considerably more tense than usual.

"He's… my ex." She admitted, her eyes focused on a corner of the Guild Hall.

"He's the ass hole that you were so upset about!?" Natsu asked, and by her lack of response, guessed that that was a 'yes'. "I'm going to kill him!" He yelled, on fire, and ready to beat someone up.

"Go right ahead." Kasai told him, now looking at the ceiling. She just noticed that the roof was fixed from her battle with Natsu.

"Actually, I think I know where he is." Makarov told them, getting both of their attentions again.

"Where is he!?" Natsu yelled.

"There's a man that fits your description… he's a Dark Guild Master. The Guild has a reputation losing members. I never suspected that it might be for Blood Magic, but the more I think about it, the more it fits." He explained, causing Natsu to cheer.

"Alright Gramps! Let's get going!"

"Not so fast, Natsu. This would be an S-Class mission, and if you're going to go, you'll need both Erza and Kasai's permission."

"I definitely want Natsu there." Kasai said, smirking, and surprising the Guild Master. "He's immune to their magic now, and with our combined fire power, it'll be an easy win."

"Don't underestimate your enemy. From what you've told me, he sounds blood thirsty and even more reckless with ancient magic than you."

"He learns magic and then makes other people figure out how to learn it for him… I doubt he uses much magic other than teleportation. Oh, speaking of which," She said, remembering her notes, and pulled out her notebook from her backpack. "These are my notes!" She announced, holding them up and speaking loud enough for everyone to hear.

They burned up in her hand, turning to ash before their very eyes.

"I wanted to make sure there was an audience for that."

"You've been working on those, for like, ever!" Natsu pointed out, and Levy was just as shocked in the background. "You were so obsessed that you didn't even notice people stealing you!"

"If they're a danger to my friends, I don't want them around. I use my magic to protect people, not hurt them. Someday I'll restart my notes, but not until I _know_ that Kiken is out of the picture." She explained, using wind magic to make the notes fly away into the air, and scatter through the Guild and into the streets.

"After all of this is over, you're still going to continue blood magic?" Makarov asked, looking at her with worried eyes.

"Don't worry so much." She said with a wink. "I told you, I'm a genius. Nothing bad is going to happen to me… at least, concerning blood magic."

"I'll consult the new Magic Council about this. Until then, don't do anything."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

 _Girls Just Want to Have Fun_

Kasai was curious about Lucy.

She didn't really understand Natsu's interest in her, nor anyone else's. Although, I guess Kasai didn't really understand most 'girl' rituals, and that seemed to be Lucy's forte. It made sense that they had so little in common.

Levy had mentioned on numerous occasions that Lucy loved reading, but when Kasai tried to talk to Lucy about any ancient books, she was completely lost. They were both 'bookworms', but of completely different genres. "Lucy," The red-head spoke one day, approaching the blond when she was alone. "How about we do a job together?"

"I, uh… don't you want to do a job with Natsu and the group?" Lucy asked, awkwardly taking a step back.

"We don't need the entire group to do a simple day job. Besides, it's easy money. All we do is sit on a train and guard a box full of sentimental stuff."

"Seriously? All we do is sit on a train?"

"Well, technically we have to walk there to the station, sit on the train, and then walk the box to the mansion to hand deliver it. The person paying us is an old geezer with lots of money that's overly paranoid." She explained, yet still noticed her hesitance.

"Lucy has only done jobs with Natsu, Kasai. That's why she's reluctant to go." Mirajane explained, suddenly making the wizard understand. Lucy's face went red.

"Well, I, I mean, it's not like," She tried to explain, stumbling over her words.

"Don't worry about it, Lucy. I understand." Kasai told her, trying to ease her awkwardness. "Natsu is a powerful wizard, and I've heard that he's saved your butt on numerous occasions. It makes sense that you would do potentially dangerous jobs with people that you trust."

"I've been trying to get her to do jobs with other wizards, but she's always been so abstinent." Mirajane commented. "I think you should take the job with Kasai. I mean, look at Wendy- she's done jobs with tons of different wizards by now."

"I guess…" Lucy said quietly, looking away from them. "Wait, are you comparing me to that 12 year old?"

"Both of you have only joined Fairy Tale in the last year."

"But Kasai is more new than I am!" She argued, pointing at the red head.

"And she's already done solo missions." Mirajane pointed out, causing the blond to sulk.

"I didn't realize that it was a competition… and besides, she's been a wizard way longer than I have."

"All the more reason you should get out of your shell. You're probably getting bad habits from _always_ going on missions with Natsu." Kasai pointed out, causing the wizard to further sulk.

1.

"WHAT!? They took a mission without me!?" Natsu yelled upon finding out about the two wizards. "Kasai didn't even tell me!"

"You have been pretty clingy lately, Natsu."

"Can you blame me!? Don't think I didn't catch to your role in that stupid game." He said, narrowing his eyes at her and referring to the popular game that had started, which entailed 'stealing' Kasai away from him and being chased by the 'dragon', Natsu.

"They should be back in a few hours, Natsu. Try not to worry so much."

"Where did they go!?"

"If I told you, you would just try to find them. They're bonding, Natsu. You should be happy about that."

"Why can't they bond while I'm there, though!? Kasai needs me!"

"They're both very capable wizards. Don't worry so much."

"Easy for you to say…." Natsu grumbled, beginning to mope and further complain about their absence.

2.

"So… read any good books lately?" Lucy spoke, awkwardly, sitting across from the other woman in the small compartment.

"Not really… I'm planning to visit the temple again soon to get notes on mud magic. Since I burned my blood magic notes, I haven't really been able to find books that interest me."

"Mud magic?" She asked, not having heard it before. "I'll bet that comes in handy at spas."

"Never been. But mud magic is pretty awesome to learn, because not only do I learn about mud, but indirectly learn about water and rock magic, along with dust and dirt. When I was younger we would do mud parades through town, where we'd wear nothing but mud."

"Naked mud people?" Lucy asked, giggling at the mental image.

"I've always hoped that I could do it again with Natsu, but after his reaction to meeting Star and Comet, doubt that'll ever happen."

"I was pretty surprised at how prudish he was…"

"If I had gone about it better, he probably would have been fine."

"I hope that I find a guy like Natsu someday. I mean, not Natsu, but someone that I'm compatible with. It seems like you two have a perfect relationship."

"I wouldn't say that we're perfect… but we are very compatible. You'll find someone out there for you, Lucy. Just don't rush into it like I did."

"Are you referring to your 'first'?"

"Yeah…" She said, frowning a bit at the memory. "I thought he was cute. He was a bit older, very intelligent… I could hold a conversation with him on almost any subject, and he would actually understand it. Looking back on it, I can see the warning signs that he was a jerk, but around me he was always sweet."

"So what happened, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Turned out he just wanted to have sex with me, and used magic to manipulate my emotions. I overheard him bragging to his friends about hooking up with me…. Which, now that I think about it, was pretty stupid on his part. It was a Buddhist Temple, the monks were all celibate, and although most of the students hadn't sworn to it they still respected women. So, when he talked about me, the other male students beat him up." Kasai said, starting to smile at the particular image. "He was shunned after that. I suspect that if he wasn't an orphan with nowhere else to go, the monks would have kicked him out."

"Wow, it sounds like they really cared about you." Lucy commented, not missing the sad look in her eyes, despite the smile.

"Yeah, they did. In our own way, we were kind of like a Guild."

"I also have another question, if you're okay with it…"

"Go ahead."

"Why don't like girly things? I mean, there's nothing wrong with it… Erza is a powerful wizard, but she makes an effort to keep her femininity. Not to say that you're not feminine, I just-"

"I grew up in a nudist colony, remember? There wasn't that much fashion." Kasai explained, "And I spent most of my time training. Most of the people I hung out with were guys, and they didn't care what I looked like when I was kicking their butts and scaring them with mud monsters." She laughed at the memory, suddenly realizing that she had been talking so much. "Why do you _like_ girly things?"

"I grew up with more… materialistic people. Money was all that my dad cared about." Lucy replied, her gaze drifting to her lap. The box that they were transporting sat next to Kasai, between her and the window. "Sorry, side tracked for a second. I dunno, I just always enjoyed 'girly' things, dressing up and looking pretty. I guess I just assumed that all girls did that."

"Interesting, I was the opposite. Before I came to Magnolia, I knew that girls dressed up, but not to the extent of short skirts and low tops. I would be wearing my shorts and baggy t-shirt, looking for work and getting turned down at practically every place. I once got a job because the boss thought I was a guy."

"And you don't mind it? Being seen as one of the guys?" Lucy asked, surprised.

"Not really. Would it bother you if people assumed that you were a guy?"

"Honestly? Yeah, it would. I like being seen as a girl." She said, smiling, and looking back down at her mini skirt. She lightly tugged at the hem of her skirt, having never really thought about how she would react being seen as a guy. "So do you hate all the outfits that Erza makes you wear?"

"She _tried_ to make me buy much more revealing clothes." Kasai answered, dreading the memory of that shopping trip with her. Lucy giggled. The red head was currently wearing white and black shorts, a sports bra, and armor on her shins and forearms.

"She does have some pretty crazy outfits…. But wait, if you grew up in a nudist colony, why does revealing clothing bother you?" The blond asked. Kasai was slightly annoyed that the conversation kept landing on her, but guessed that the blond had been wondering about these things for some time. Or maybe she just felt like talking about herself today.

"There's two reasons for that… the first being that revealing clothing in a nudist colony doesn't infer sexuality. It just infers comfort." She said. "Second… I always hated revealing clothing after my first crush talked about me like a chunk of meat. Even in the village, after I slept with him I wore clothing and became much more modest."

"Compared to a lot of other wizards, your outfit isn't that revealing, but I get it. I don't think Natsu thinks of you that way."

"Natsu liked me when I was homeless and smelled bad. He's one of the very few people that appreciates a person for their personality, not appearances." She said, causing the woman to laugh. "Anyway… I liked the uniform I wore for bartending, but it wouldn't work for fighting. I've been tempted to wear it anyway."

"Uniform?"

"Black slacks and button down shirt. I have some pretty cool shirts from working at the Sunflower."

"Then why don't you wear them?"

"I dunno… I was worried that it wouldn't meet the dress code."

"There's a dress code at Fairy Tale?"

"Kind of…"

3.

"What the hell happened to your hair!?" Natsu yelled when they returned, wound up from questioning the entire Guild for their whereabouts. "It went down to your knees this morning!"

"Some kid cut off her braid when we were delivering the package… so I had my celestial spirit give her a hair cut! Don't you like it?"

He groaned, staring at his girlfriend's face, and then noticed that she was wearing a different outfit altogether. "Are you working tonight?"

"She doesn't like the clothes that Erza got her, so I convinced her to try fighting in her work clothes. Now she looks stylish, but doesn't have to wear girly stuff!"

"Are you saying that have bad taste in fashion?" Erza asked, coming out of nowhere and staring down the woman, causing Lucy to shrink in fear.

The haircut, although extremely short, was edgy. She had bangs that pulled to the sides of her face, and the rest of her hair was shorter than Natsu's, less than an inch long. Her outfit, a black button down shirt with fun white and pink swirls and designs, also had a white vest over it. Her pants were simple black slacks, which revealed her black sandals that Erza had convinced her to buy some time ago, and everything fit her perfectly. Slender, didn't show off her cleavage or stomach, and although masculine hints of feminine design through it. The vest was Lucy's, and she was letting her borrow it.

Natsu stared at her, expressionless, and then reached his hand to her face.

His fingers gently tossed her bangs to the side, watching it fall back.

Toss.

Toss.

Toss.

A grin appeared on his face. "Hee hee."

"Erza, please, it wasn't anything personal. I love your clothes."

"Then why did you go behind my back and change them!?"

"I just wanted her to be happy please don't kill me."

"Natsu, does that mean that you like it?" Kasai asked, slightly amused by his cat-like action.

"You're acting more like a cat than me." Happy commented from nearby, and was completely ignored by the man, who was completely mesmerized by the piece of hair.

"Hee hee." He just giggled again.

"I think you look great." Levy spoke, walking up to them.

"Lookin good, Kasai!" Several other people agreed, causing her to blush slightly.

4.

Kasai walked Lucy home that night. Although they didn't have too much in common, the red head appreciated the help, and figured she might as well make an extra effort. "So," Kasai started to speak, a little awkward after such a long space of silence. "You don't have to or anything-"

"Hey!" Someone interrupted, causing the girls to stop. They both turned to see a couple of drunkards, looking to be 40 years or older, stumbling towards them. "You girls need some company?"

"No thanks. We're fine." Kasai answered politely.

"Two girls shouldn't be walking around at night alone. I think we should escort them." One of them said, nudged the guy next to him, and then took another step towards the two women.

"You guys are drunk." Lucy stated, causing the two men to chuckle.

"We're completely sober missy," The other one spoke, trying to stand up straight. He hadn't shaved in days, bits of food and beer clinging to his stubble.

"We're fine. Should we call a cab for you two?" The red head asked. "When we get home, we can tell them where you are."

"Your home sounds nicer." This man, slightly more composed than the other, was wearing a suit and tie. He didn't appear to be a typical drinker, given his nice clothing and shaved face.

They were getting closer, so the girls stepped back. "Come on, let's go. These guys are creeps." Lucy said, not expecting the one in the suit to run at them.

Lucy froze, mid step, watching him make a lunge at her with his arms extended towards her, a disgusting grin on his face.

Of course, no harm came to her. Kasai easily subdued him by twisting his arm and forcing him to the ground. "This woman has no intention of having your company. You should go home."

"Bi- AH!" He tried to curse, but was cut off by pain. "Help!"

The other man hesitated.

"They're just girls!" He yelled, and felt more pain.

"'Women'." She corrected, and when the other larger man ran at them, she easily did the same to him.

So now, both were on their knees with their arms twisted behind their backs and hands in extremely uncomfortable positions.

"You okay, Lucy?" She asked, casually smiling at Lucy.

"Yeah… thanks." The Celestial Wizard replied, still caught off guard and surprised by how easily they were both subdued, along with how easily they were set off.

"Hey, now that I think about it, you two look familiar." Kasai said, suddenly recognizing them as the men that attacked her at the beach years ago. Since then she had encountered them a few times, though they weren't always this hostile.

"Shit, you're that crazy girl!"

"'Woman'." She corrected, twisting their arms. "What did I tell you about getting drunk and attacking _women_?"

"Don't do it." They both answered.

"And what did you do tonight?"

"Tried to attack women…" They answered in unison.

"Do you know what happens when I catch you doing that?"

"You break our arm and write 'pig' on our foreheads." They, again, answered in unison. Kasai smiled at the two idiots.

"Good. Lucy, I have a pen in the front pocket of my back pack. Could you grab it and do some art for me?" She asked, grinning at the woman, and watching her snap out of her daze.

"How is it that you always catch us?" One of them asked, on the verge of tears. "We finally were allowed to drink again, and this happens."

"Maybe you two are good guys deep down inside, and you want me to prevent you from scarring a poor girls life." She said, glaring at them towards the end.

"So they've done this before?" Lucy asked, pulling out the permanent marker.

"Other bartenders know my calling card. When they get customers with sharpie on their face and a broken arm, they know not to serve them alcohol. Oh, hey, you're getting married? Nice ring."

"Thanks… we're getting married in two months. Please don't write on my face."

"Sorry, you know the rules. Lucy, go nuts." Kasai said, winking at the girl. "They're secure. If they make any movements… well, they know what happens." She said, kicking one of them in the back.

5.

"Natsu, your girlfriend is awesome."

"Thanks, Lucy, I think you're pretty awesome too."

Natsu sat between them, giving them weird looks and pouting. "Well… yeah." He agreed, not sure what else to do. He was glad that they were friends, but the total 180 was so weird, he didn't know how to comprehend it.

He wasn't good with change.

"Did you know that she's basically a superhero? After her bar shifts, she would walk around the streets looking for girls in trouble and kick drunk people's butts!"

"Why would you do that?" Kana asked from nearby, and then chugged part of her barrel.

"You know about it, Kana. It's part of the reason the Sunflower has lost so much business when I left. I used to escort drunk girls home, and when I wasn't doing that, I kept an eye out for trouble."

"Right, I forgot about that. I wouldn't say that you were a superhero, though. Wasn't it pretty rare that you ran into trouble like that?"

"I never said I was a superhero, Lucy did; but you're right. Most of the time I was more likely to get puked on by the people I escorted…."

"Kasai!" Three girls squealed, running into the Guild and getting everyone's attention.

"Speak of the devils." Kasai commented, getting up from her seat to give all of the girls a hug. "It's been a while."

"You're telling us! How have you been?"

"We got an outfit for you!"

"Girl, I love your hair!"

All of them spoke, speaking so quickly and high pitched that she could barely keep up. They all shoved shopping bags at her, causing her to grab them before they dropped. "We felt bad for ruining your outfits over the years, so we went shopping for you! We left the receipt in case they don't fit,"

"But we have an eye for sizes, so we doubt you'll need to." Another finished, all of them giggling and squealing.

"More clothes?" Natsu asked, turning towards them.

"OH my gosh, is this your boyfriend!?"

"We saw the pictures of you in _Sorcerer's Weekly_ and thought it was SO adorable!"

"He's so cute!"

"You two are so cute together!" They all said in unison, causing the couple to feel awkward.

"Thanks…?" They both said awkwardly.

"… So you're friends of Kasai?" Lucy asked, entertained by the little fan group.

"Totally!" Two of them said.

"She was the best bartender ever, and we miss her!"

"Please come back! We miss you!" They all pleaded, suddenly using puppy dog eyes on her.

"Sorry, full-time wizard nowadays. I sometimes catch shifts at the Sunflower when I get slow days, though." Kasai replied.

"You guys can visit this Guild, but it's members only, so you can't stay for too long." Mirajane told them, interrupting the conversation.

"WAIT- oh my gosh, idea." One of them said, and the other girls turned all of their attention to her. "What if we hire her as a wizard? We have lots of money."

"Be our personal wizard!" They all cheered, jumping on her and hugging her, making it awkward for her to hold all the bags and not fall over. One of them had jumped onto her back, making her balance unsteady, and the other two girls were clinging to her side. Just as Erza's bikini made her feel awkward, the three girls wearing mini-skirts and low-cut shirts with prominent breasts and long legs made her uncomfortable. She had large breasts pressing against the back of her neck and both arms.

Kasai had studied martial arts most of her life, making her comfortable around shirtless men, but women were never that affectionate towards her. Her mother was more accustomed to punches than hugs, and Sarah was only affectionate to boys she was interested in. In fact, when she thought about it, Star and Comet were the only people that showed any gentleness towards her in her childhood.

Her face was beat red.

"If you guys would like to hire a wizard at Fairy Tale, you'll have to make a formal request through me." Mirajane told them, coming to the woman's rescue after noticing her awkwardness.

Several guys in the room didn't disapprove of attractive women climbing all over each other. The woman on her back had forgotten that she was wearing a miniskirt and gave plenty of guys an eyeful.

"And you said I was clingy?" Natsu asked Mirajane, feeling awkward and not liking the situation.

"I'm surprised that you're not mad about scantily clad women hugging your girlfriend. You only get upset when guys do it?" Lucy asked Natsu, not missing the blush on Kasai's face and her speechlessness.

They were still clinging to her, but dragged her over to the bar so that they could make the formal request to Mirajane.

"She likes guys, not girls."

"I dunno, she's blushing quite a bit. She might be bisexual." She teased, causing the pink-haired boy to take a closer look at his girlfriend, and cause his eyes to bulge.

"Get away from my girlfriend!" He yelled, running at them.

"Natsu, they're not wizards, don't use your fire magic!" Gray yelled at him, icing his hands before he could throw fireballs on the young girls, completely oblivious to him.

"Don't interrupt their beautiful moment!" Several men yelled, and grabbed Natsu to prevent him from tackling them. They all piled on him, causing him to struggle and flop around angrily.

"He's so easy." Lucy commented, but couldn't help but feel a little bad for the red-head's predicament. She was trapped, unable to move, while her boyfriend was being held down by the rest of the Guild who were ogling her situation and likely fantasizing about her.

"What's going on with them?" The girls asked, suddenly noticing the wrestling match behind them.

"Oh, Natsu gets pretty upset when attractive people hog his girlfriend." Mirajane answered, and the girls finally noticed Kasai's red face.

"Aaaaw, that's so cute! Wait, why is he intimidated by us, unless…?" They said, trailing off and poking at the girl's face. "She's bi?"

They all got evil grins on their faces.

"Nooooo!" Natsu yelled, watching the events unfold.

6.

"You're fine around half naked men but you're a babbling idiot when half naked girls are involved?" Natsu asked, carrying his girlfriend on his back, whose face was completely covered in lipstick. Her hands held the shopping bag handles, arms extending across his shoulders and in front of his body.

She felt sick.

"Men don't wear so much perfume and scented lip gloss." She explained, although it only accounting for part of her reaction. "I've been studying martial arts all of my life… half naked men are normal for me. Squealing half naked women with big boobs jumping on me isn't." She tried to defend. "I feel sick."

"You weren't exactly pushing them away."

"Natsu, stop being so mean." Happy scolded, causing Natsu to scowl.

"So many smells…." She grumbled, nuzzling into his neck.

"You're taking a shower when you get home. It's making me nauseous just carrying you."

"So are you bi?" Happy asked, causing Natsu to glare.

"The only person I want in my bed is Natsu." She answered, causing Natsu to blush.

"You loooove him~" Happy teased, but for once didn't get a negative reaction.

"Yep. Only him." She confirmed, causing the cat to snicker.

"Have… have I seemed too clingy, lately? Does it bother you?" Natsu asked, causing Kasai to look up at him, only able to see part of his face from her angle. Not able to see his expression, she had no idea of his emotional state on the question, but guessed that he was worried since he hesitated to ask it in the first place.

"Not really. I enjoy spending so much time with you, and like that you enjoy spending time with me. Why do you ask?"

"Well, the other day when you ran off with Lucy without me… Mirajane…"

"You mean the day when you drank so much the night before you slept for half the day?" She asked, causing him to laugh awkwardly. "I need to pay my bills, Natsu, and I have a schedule. You're welcome to join me, and I love you, but I'm not going to sit around all day waiting for you to wake up."

Happy laughed at Natsu's awkwardness. "Natsu, you're an idiot!"

"Someone isn't getting fish for dinner." He grumbled, causing the cat to panic.

"I'm sorry!"

1\. (Edolas arc!)

"It's so rainy today…" Kasai commented, standing near a window and having just waved off Mirajane and her brother, who were venturing into the storm. Natsu and Gray were fighting, over something she had no idea, on the other side of the Hall.

Something felt… off.

"I'm tired." Natsu told her, tugging at her arm and silently asking her to join him for a nap. Instead of waiting for a reply, he just crawled into her back, making her grab his legs so he wouldn't fall, and then he was asleep.

"He's already asleep!?" Gray yelled.

She continued staring out of the window, gazing into the sky shrouded in grey and water. "I have this feeling… like something bad is going to happen…."

2.

"I wonder what Kasai is like in this world." Natsu spoke out loud to the group, suddenly missing his partner. They hadn't seen her yet since they got there, and since she was a dragonslayer, he had hoped that she might turn up like Lucy did.

They were all in the hotel room, talking with Lucy and Scary Lucy, and he had just finished coming up with amazing ideas for the trio Lucy.

"She wasn't at the Fairy Tale Guild…" Happy reminded him.

"Kasai?" Scary Lucy asked, making the fire user look up.

"Do you know her?"

"Red hair, real quiet?"

"Yeah!" Natsu said, sitting up and excited to hear news of her; however, the woman looked sad at the mention of her.

"She died a few years back." She said, causing his eyes to widen.

"Come on, seriously!? Lisanna is alive but Kasai is dead!?" He asked, freaking out and pissed off.

"Did you guys date in your world or something?"

"Yeah, she's my girlfriend!"

"She was only part of our Guild a short time before she was killed… I didn't know her that well. I do remember… that she made Natsu smile."

3.

When Kasai woke up, she had a splitting headache, and she found herself in a strange place, Gray and Erza beside her. Kasai was up on her feet before the others, finding Gajeel in front of them and what appeared to be soldiers circling all of them. "What the hell?" Kasai asked, looking around at all the guards and holding her head.

"You gotta be kidding me… it was just the three of them?" The Iron Dragonslayer asked. "Alright you're free, so look alive!" He yelled at them.

"My head hurts." Kasai grumbled, her blood magic unusually unstable and jumping in and out of her skin. Not to the point of it being dangerous, luckily, but enough to hurt and make her grumble more.

"Just be glad you're not dead." Gajeel told her.

"Gajeel…?"

"Hey, what's goin' on!?" Gray yelled, suddenly noticing the guards around them.

"We can talk later. Right now, we gotta go." Gajeel told them, which set off the guards to the point of attacking. They all ran at them, Gray and Erza out of magic, forcing Gajeel to clear a path for them to run.

"So this is what Natsu feels like on the train." She mumbled, running with them even though the world threatened to move under her feet.

4.

"Geez, you're going to be useless, aren't you?" Gajeel asked, looking down at the red head who sat against the wall groaning every few minutes. "You should be magicless like these two."

"My magic is fused to my blood…. Without my healing magic to compensate for the fluctuations…." She couldn't even finish the sentence, and when the Gajeel look alike showed up, her brain turned to goo.

"Then here, take this." He said, not wasting any time by opening her mouth and shoving the small red ball inside.

She gulped.

"It's gonna take a while to undo the damage." She added, still feeling miserable.

The dragonslayer groaned, pissed off that the strongest wizard of the group was out of the game. He had hoped she could help him find the other wizards since she was a dragonslayer, but being this immobile lump of sick, it looked like he was on his own.

Kasai didn't care, feeling too miserable to be embarrassed. "I bet you're feeling pretty sympathetic to Natsu's motion-sickness, huh?" Gray asked, not surprised when she fell on her side to try and ease the pain.

"Everything is spinning…"

"Guess I'll carry her. Hopefully she'll be ready to fight when we need her." Gray said, picking her up. "I'm so used to carrying her, it's weird to be running towards Natsu and not away from him."

5.

"Wait, are you real Gray or weird Gray!? Is that Kasai on your back!?" Natsu yelled, thoroughly freaked out and over energized. They had just finally located him when he started yelling and freaking out, not bothering to calm down and listen for two seconds.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but if you don't cool it you're gonna get a left hook to the jaw, Pyro." Gray replied, pissed off that he had just scared the hell out of them. "And yeah, that's Kasai. She's been useless since she got here."

"Natsu…? Are you using whirlwind fire attack…? Nothing will stop moving…." She mumbled, causing Natsu to freak out again.

"Are you real Kasai or weird Kasai!?"

"I said, knock it off!" Gray yelled, punching him in the face. "Are you feeling any better, Kasai?"

"I already had lacrima inside me… I wonder how that lacrima reacted to turning into lacrima… and then being turned from lots of lacrima to just my lacrima… so it went from being lacrima to turning into lots of lacrima and turning back… if everything would stop moving…." She rambled incoherently, eventually giving up trying to speak at all and resting her head on the nook of his shoulder.

"What's wrong with her?" Natsu asked, never seeing her so sick before.

"Something about her blood magic being unstable. She's basically got your motion sickness."

"Maybe I should use my healing magic on her? It worked for Natsu." Wendy asked.

"Worth a shot." Gray said with a shrug, and gently set her on the ground. Wendy put her hands over her, magic glowing from her hands.

"That's a little better…." Kasai said, sitting upright, but then immediately puking and falling back down completely out of it.

"Do I look that terrible when I'm sick?"

"Yep." Everyone answered.

6.

At some point she found herself floating around in water, just floating around, when suddenly she saw something yummy.

Nom.

"Hey, you just ate my fire!" Natsu yelled, and then caught his hand on fire again.

Then she ate it. Again.

"Come on, I need to fight! This guy is gonna hurt all our friends!"

"I think I can stand now." Kasai said, her head finally clearing and the room being less spinny. Everything was blurry, but it slowly started to clear. "Why are we in an amusement park? Why are we in water…?"

"There's no time for that! We need to beat these guys up!" He yelled at her after she stood up, still unsteady but regaining her senses. Just like Lucy and Natsu, she was soaked, and unusually cold.

"Are they using magic?" She asked, starving for it.

"They have to use devices in order to use magic." Lucy told her, glad that she was finally getting back to normal. "We could really use the help. These guys are crazy."

"I'll take care of it." With one swift movement, her blood magic sucked out the magic from both the enemy's sword and wand.

"What the…?" The wand guy gasped, trying to wave his wave his stick around.

The blood magic returned to her, and then she stuck her tongue out in disgust. "Your magic is terrible." She mumbled, and slowly slumped to the water again, this time Lucy holding her upper body up.

"Oh come on! You're sick _again_? You were only awake for a few seconds!" Lucy yelled at the useless woman, shaking her slightly to try and shake her of it.

"Everything is moving…"

"No it's not!"

"She managed to take out that stupid wand, give her a break." Natsu said, cracking his knuckles and smirking at the panicked man before him. "She just saved us a lot of time and energy by taking out their weapons."

"Little toy stop working?" Gray asked his opponent, a similar expression to Natsu's as he readied his next magic attack.

7.

"She's _still_ sick?" Gajeel asked, looking at the woman slouched over the table, miserable, her boyfriend busy fighting with the Ice Man. "Was she anything other than deadweight during that whole ordeal?"

"Well, she saved our butts just in time at one point… but then she got sick again." Lucy said a few seats away.

"Wait, do you know why she was coherent enough to do that?" Erza asked, causing the blond to ponder.

"I was so distracted, I have no idea. Natsu might." Lucy said, watching the powerful wizard turn and grab Natsu, preventing him from continuing his fist-fight.

"Natsu, do you know what caused Kasai to feel better when you were in Edolas?"

"No idea! She just randomly ate some of my fire magic, and then complained about the other guys having gross magic, and then passed out again." He said, causing everyone to fall over.

"You could have helped her THIS WHOLE TIME?!" Gray yelled at him, the rest of the group stunned into silence.

"…. Huh?" He asked, head tilting to the side.

"What do you, as a fire dragonslayer, eat for power?" Gray asked, dumming it down for him.

"… fire?"

"And what happened when she ate your _fire_?"

"… she got better."

"And what do you think will make her feel better now?"

"… fire?"

"There ya go."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

 _Unexpected Friend_

"Oh, Lucy, I keep forgetting to mention." She said, turning her attention to the blond.

"Huh?"

"Awhile ago, I tried to offer you self-defense lessons, but got distracted before I got the chance."

"Does that mean you won't be using your kinky whip anymore?" Happy asked Lucy, causing the blond to glare at him.

"It's not kinky!"

"You should take her up on the offer, Lucy. That way you won't have to rely on your spirits all the time." Gray suggested, Natsu nodding.

"Or me. How many times have I had to save your butt?" Natsu asked, joining the conversation. He was munching on his food, as were most of them, staring at the blond between bites.

"Hey, I've had to save yours, too! You guys make me out to be super weak!" She yelled, annoyed at everyone ganging up on her.

"I don't think you're weak, Lucy, and didn't mean to imply it." Kasai told her. "Gray does have a point, though. If you're in a situation where you can't summon your spirits, or you've run out of a magic, you should have a back up plan."

"I guess…. But that seems like so much work…" She complained, causing the red head to chuckle.

"I never realized it until just now, but you remind me of my friend Sarah." She said, causing everyone to look at her confused. "Now that I think about it, you two are a lot alike."

"Whose Sarah? Another half-naked friend of yours?" Natsu asked, earning a smack on the back of the head.

"She's a childhood friend. She was a celestial wizard, just like Lucy, and learned magic to protect her friends and family… but never really had a knack for it…." Kasai spoke, suddenly lost in her thoughts. "I wonder what she's doing now…"

"You had a Lucy growing up?" Natsu asked, suddenly interested.

"Kind of. She was the only other girl learning magic at the Buddhist Temple, but I suspect she was more motivated to hang out with her boyfriend than learn magic."

"Your Lucy had a boyfriend?" Happy asked, snickering at Lucy.

"Shut up, cat!"

1.

The party celebrating Lisanna's return was supposed to be just one day, but they were all so happy at her return that they extended it to last several days.

"So you're Natsu's girlfriend?" The wizard asked, causing Kasai to grin.

"Yeah." She replied. "I heard that you were at some point, too."

"Not exactly… but we were close." She replied, a blush spreading across Lisanna's cheeks. The pair stood facing each other, somewhat awkwardly, holding drinks in their hands and out of the way of the fighting.

"I don't have to worry about competing with you, do I?" The red head asked jokingly, causing the woman to blush even more. "I'm kidding, Lisanna. Don't worry so much."

"Okay…"

"So do you use transformation magic like your siblings?"

"Yeah, it's a family trait."

"I always thought transformation magic was fascinating, and was disappointed when I learned that you had to be born with it. There's so many cool spells you can do with it."

"Yeah, it's definitely powerful. I can't imagine myself using any other kind of magic. I also can't wait to use it with my siblings again." She admitted, and then noticed someone staring at them from near the entrance of the Guild Hall. "Is she a new wizard too?" She asked, causing Kasai to turn to where she was looking.

Her eyes widened, grin spread across her face. "No, she's not." She started running towards the woman, dodging people that were in the middle of fighting and got in her way, and when she reached the brunette, extended her arms wide to pull her into a hug. "Sarah!" She cheered, happy to see the familiar face, and wrapped her arms around her.

Kasai pulled her close into a hug, and then pulled away slightly to get a good look at her face.

Sarah.

She had dark skin, so smooth that it resembled chocolate, and dark brown eyes that could melt the heart of any man. She had black hair, darker than the night sky, which cascaded down her back and curled in every direction. Her slim body was draped in tribal garments that Kasai had never seen before, mostly consisting of black, brown, yellow, and green.

"I missed you so much," The red-head said, looking into those dark eyes and resting their foreheads together.

"100 days." She replied, and Kasai felt a stabbing pain in her gut along with a magic spell being cast on her head. Her dark slim hand had made its way to the back of her skull, and before she knew what was happening, found herself transported to a new place.

They were no longer in the Guild Hall.

They were both standing there, staring into each other's eyes, with a knife lodged into Kasai's stomach. "You were never any good at telepathy magic. I cast a spell so that only moments will pass in real time, but we have 100 days for me to torture you to death. To make you understand the pain that you've caused me."

"What… what happened to you?"

The woman slowly pulled the knife out of her, and took a step back, out of her reach.

The red head stood, ignoring the pain and just looking at her friend. "You're my friend, Sarah."

"This is my domain." She said, and suddenly their surroundings changed drastically, along with Kasai's wrists and ankles suddenly being bound together behind her. Sarah kicked her friend to the floor and ground her shoe into the side of her face. "Thanks to you, my life has been a living hell. Your friends won't be able to save you, little wench; just like you weren't there to save me."

They were in the Temple, on the grounds outside of the mess hall, where sparring usually took place.

"After you left, Kiken started using blood magic on our friends to start fights. He used your notes to do it." She explained, and they could see a young version of the wizard in question casting spells. Their surroundings felt so real, Kasai could smell the gardens nearby and see every detail of her old friends.

Their surroundings suddenly changed.

Swords were clashing.

Magic was in the air.

Kasai could see a younger Sarah and David, fighting in front of them. Kiken was looming in the shadows.

"Because of you," Sarah spoke, louder than anything and booming in Kasai's head. "I had to watch the love of my life die."

Kiken used blood magic to pierce through his skull like a bullet.

"He's going to pay for what he's done." Kasai said, despite the foot digging into her face and creating cut marks. "To take something so amazing and use to do something like this… it's disgusting."

"Shut up and watch!" She yelled, casting a spell that caused several blades to descend upon Kasai's frozen body. "Whatever happens to you in this realm also happens to your body in the real world!"

Kasai was silent, accepting the pain she felt and trying to take deep breaths.

"Do you have any idea what he did to my celestial spirits?"

2.

Several days had passed in this other world.

In Sarah's pain and anguish, she basically showed Kiken's entire plan and operation, along with all the gory details. The sins he caused. The horrible pain he inflicted. The experimentations, disregard for human life.

"I'm surprised that you're still alive. Whenever I use this spell on people, they usually only last a single day." She spoke, now standing a few yards from her and looking at her handy work. "Your magic is worthless here. You can't heal yourself. You're going to die by my hand."

"Sorry… to disappoint you." Kasai said, slowly moving, and rolling onto her knees and trying to sit up. "But… I…" She choked out, shaking horribly. "Have people… to protect."

Sarah stood, completely shocked, as Natsu and Lucy appeared out of nowhere and began helping her stand. Her wrists were still bound, but her feet had become free at some point. "That can't be… this is my realm! They can't be here!" She yelled, thoroughly freaked.

"I want you to be… one of those people… that I protect." Kasai finished speaking, leaning on Natsu for support. "Because… my friends are my weakness… but they're also my strength."

"They're not actually here… but… it doesn't matter, I'll just kill you right here and now!" She screamed, lunging forward with her original blade. Natsu caught her wrist before it could do any damage, and held it there.

The spell broke.

It was Kasai's hand holding her wrist.

Almost no time had passed, but the injuries that Sarah inflicted were there.

The rest of the Guild was still partying, but Lisanna had been watching the two, and saw what was happening.

"Kasai!" She screamed, running towards her. Lisanna may not have known the red head for very long, but she was a member of Fairy Tale, and she had to help her somehow. "What are you doing to her!"

Natsu stopped fighting to look at what was happening, hearing the tone in Lisanna's voice, and his eyes widened at the sight of the bloody blade hovering over his girlfriend's head.

"You're my friend, Sarah. I… I'm sorry I couldn't protect you."

"How are you still alive!? What they hell are you?!" She yelled, trying to get out of the tightening grip on her arm. "Let go of me!" She screamed, watching the woman be engulfed by flames.

"That monster will pay for what he's done to you."

"What the hell is going on!?" Natsu yelled, trying to make sense of the situation. "What the hell did you do to Kasai!?"

The Guild Master and Gildarts, across the room, noticed the strange disturbance and went to investigate.

"Everything is your fault, you monster!" She screamed at her, trying to get out of her grip.

Kasai was focused so much on trying to stay standing, she forgot that she was holding the other woman in place.

"What's the meaning of this? What have you done to my child?" The Guild Master asked, angry when he saw the obvious pain his Fairy Tale Wizard was experiencing. All of Fairy Tale was watching the scene unfold, confused by the sudden change in mood from happy to angry. It had happened so fast, they didn't know what to make of the situation.

"I've been using a torture spell, so although only seconds passed here, I've been carving her up for days. I've shown her what her actions have caused…. she should be dead!" She answered, still struggling and finally dropping the blade.

"It's not… a torture spell." Kasai corrected, finally looking up at her. "It's a meditation and teaching spell…."

"But you're supposed to suck at this kind of magic! How the hell did you break free!?"

"Because…" Kasai said, her voice cracking. "I'm a genius." She said, smirking, but still shaking. "That spell… was meant to help people. And you helped me learn some very… valuable… intel."

Sarah's eyes widened. "No… you-

"You're my friend. Please… let me help you."

"How dare you hurt a member of Fairy Tale!" Natsu yelled, his own fire emerging, and causing the black-haired woman to look up at her surroundings in fear.

"None of you are to lay a hand on her!" Kasai yelled, but then her grip loosened, and she fell to one knee. The wizard jumped back, away from the bloody mess, and suddenly worried about the other wizards attacking her.

This had never happened.

Usually, she was in and out so quick, they didn't know what happened.

But now the entire Guild had been forced to stop partying early, liquor still on their breaths, and their sights were on her bloody hands.

"What the hell does that mean? She just beat the hell out of you with one spell!" Natsu yelled at the fallen woman.

"If it helps her move on… to be happy… she can do whatever the hell she wants to me."

"Oh come on, are you serious!?"

"She sounds a lot like Erza…" Lucy commented.

"These wounds will heal… but… the past can't be changed." She said, struggling to stay conscious. Her magic was too weak to cast a descent healing spell.

Gajeel picked up Sarah by the back of her shirt, lifting her up like a small child. "This little wimp caused you to fall like that? How pathetic."

"Get away from her!"

"What? She looks wimpy to me,"

"She may look weak but she knows deadly magic you'd have no chance against!" Kasai yelled, running forward just as the woman in question began casting a spell. The fire woman sent a fireball at her, causing her to cancel her spell and Gajeel to toss her to the side.

"Your friends really are your weakness. You can barely stand because you let an old friend get so close." Sarah said, and cast a spell that Kasai recognized.

"Stop it, you're casting the spell wrong you idiot!" She yelled, and tried to run at her, but fell instead.

"Teleportation magic!"

"No!"

And then she was gone.

Her body fluttered away into dust, spinning and twirling out the door and into the sunny sky. "Blood magic… circulation." Kasai whispered, causing everyone to look in amazement and confusion as all of her blood on the floor rose. It circled her like a whirlwind, slowly reentering her body, and within seconds her injuries were practically healed. Adding a basic healing spell, she only had a few bruises to worry about.

"What the hell was that!? I'm so confused right now!?" Natsu yelled, voicing the thoughts of most of the Guild members.

"I'm sorry for worrying you, and disrupting the party. You all should get back to it." She said, this time easily getting back to her feet. Her smile seemed genuine, and her words sincere. "Lisanna is back, and that calls for celebration."

"Eh? Seriously?" Gray asked, but then got punched in the gut by Natsu.

"If she says she's alright, then let's get back to the party! Woohoo!" The pink-haired man yelled, starting up the fighting again and getting most of the rambunctious males back into the violence.

She had so much to process, she didn't know what to feel.

It felt so surreal to be back in Fairy Tale. She'd been gone for days, and yet… she wasn't.

"The Master wasn't kidding when he said you were strong." Guildarts said, the two of them walking up to her. Most of the girls, not caring to fight, stood on the guidelines and tried to eavesdrop on their conversation. "I'm surprised you'd stoop so low to date Natsu."

She didn't say anything.

"It was pretty impressive that you broke a spell like that… that was my second time seeing it in action, and the first time they didn't survive it. I think it was the same woman, too." Guildarts continued.

Her eyes were glued to the spot her friend had just vanished from.

She just stood there, still. It unnerved the rest of them.

Silent.

Staring.

"Are you okay?" Makarov asked, wondering if the spell had a side effect she hadn't mentioned yet, or if she was just shooken up.

"She cast the spell wrong." She muttered, causing the two wizards to give her a quizzical stare.

"What do you mean?" The Master asked, concerned by the lack of emotion on the woman's face.

"The teleportation spell… she did it wrong. We just watched her die."

Their eyes widened, looking at the same spot she was looking at, remembering the woman that was standing there just moments ago.

"Did you learn anything when you were under the meditation spell?" Guildarts asked, watching her carefully.

"Everything. She told me everything." She said, and then finally looked down at the Guild Master. "Why are people so evil and impatient with magic?" She asked him, the memories of her friends past replaying in her head. "How can wizards do such horrible things?" Her voice was soft, on the verge of breaking, tears welling up in her eyes.

He didn't have an answer for her.

"I use my magic to protect myself and my friends. I take the time to study it, to learn it, and be patient with it. But… Kiken…" Her fists clenched, and she was suddenly filled with so much rage that she kicked a nearby table into the wall, causing it to break and splinter with a loud bang. The woman's body was on fire, magic emanating from her so strong that the surrounding wizards could feel it.

"Oooh, fire." Natsu said, randomly running up to her and hugging her from behind. One of his arms hooked from around her waist and connected to the other on her shoulder. He ate some of her fire that she was giving off. "Someone is fired up." He said, slurping up the excess flames.

"Natsu, this isn't the time to be joking around." Guildarts said, surprised at how oblivious the boy was to seriousness of the situation. The other wizards who had been listening in on the conversation had similar reactions.

"Why not? It's a party!" He said, laughing.

"Can't you tell that your girlfriend is upset?" Guildarts asked, causing the pyro to pause and look at Kasai.

"She is? Then why is she smiling?" He asked, poking at the woman's cheek. They all looked at her curiously, still able to see the tears in her eyes. "Were you crying?"

"I'll be okay… so long as Natsu's got my back." She said, looking to the Dragonslayer with renewed strength. "When I take down Kiken, you're gonna back me up, right?"

Natsu, not sure why she was bringing him up, nonetheless nodded. "Of course!"

Guildarts suddenly understood why the skilled wizard liked Natsu. The hot head might be an idiot, but in an instant, he managed to make her smile when she was doubting the integrity of humanity.


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note:** Hey y'all! I'm sorry about the lack of updating. I've been super busy job hunting and getting trained for said job, which has been making me super stressed and busy. Hope you guys have a lovely Halloween! Be safe!

 **Chapter 15**

 _To be an S-Ranked Wizard_

"Why is everyone freaking out?" Lucy asked Mirajane, watching as wizard after wizard requested solo missions and ignored her.

"I overheard that they're going to have the s-class test or something soon." Kasai answered, also surprised by the numerous requests. "The Guildmaster chooses a select group to take the test each year."

"Wait, did you have to do that in order to be an s-class wizard?" Lucy asked, looking to the red head.

"After so many complaints," Erza said, entering the conversation. "The Guild Master decided that Kasai's status as S-rank is temporarily revoked. She's going to have to take the test with everyone else."

"Wait what?" Kasai asked, surprised by that knowledge.

"What, afraid you won't pass?" She challenged.

"Of course not. I just didn't think that I would need to pass a second test." She said, frowning slightly. "People complained?"

"The rules for you are going to be slightly different from the rest, given your background. But don't worry, the Guild Master has made it a personal mission to make it as challenging as possible."

"Oh come on, you're going to make it more difficult for me than anyone else? How is that fair?" She asked, pouting at the red head.

1.

"Why is it so hooooot… Happy, you should turn into a popsicle." Lucy said, miserable in the heat along with everyone else on the ship. Natsu was the only one not suffering from the heat, instead suffering from his motion sickness.

"I feel like a kid again…" Kasai commented, noticing how most of her friends were in minimal clothing; in Gray's case, completely nude. "I'm glad I happened to ask Erza about the weather conditions…" She said, clad in her white shorts and sports bra that the red head had convinced her to buy at her first 'test'. It almost felt ironic. "So, Makarov," The red head spoke, going to the back of the ship to talk with the Guild Master.

"We're almost to our destination. I'll be filling you all in on the details shortly." He said, grinning at her nervous expression.

"Should I be worried about that sadistic look on your face?"

He just laughed, making her sulk more, and go back to her friends.

"What are you worried about, Kasai? You're already an s-class wizard." Wendy asked, noticing the woman's nervous expression.

"So many people complained about me not officially taking this test, so I'm going to be taking a more difficult test while your test is happening." She explaining, leaning against the railing of the ship.

"Ha, sucks for you." Gajeel said, laughing at her. "Is that why you didn't bring a partner?"

"I wasn't allowed." She said, frowning as he continued to laugh at her.

"Serves you right." Kana said from nearby, lounging in her bikini next to Lucy. "You hadn't been in the Guild a month and they randomly promoted you. This is my 5th time taking this stupid test."

"It's not like they just gave me the title on a whim. I did an s-class mission with Erza, and she basically sat back and watched me handle it. I didn't take an official exam, but I did prove myself."

"We've been on s-class missions before, too." Lucy pointed out.

"But did Erza have to save your butt?" She asked, causing the blond to tense.

"N-n-nooo…"

"Liar."

"Hey, look, there's the Island!" Someone pointed out, and everyone got excited at the prospect of starting the test.

"Listen up!" The Guild Master said, gaining everyone's attention, and started explaining the test. As he went through the instructions for the first round, Kasai continued leaning against the railing, unmoving. She listened, waiting for him to throw a curve ball and announce what her test would be like. When he finally did, everyone was shocked. "Since there has been question about Kasai's status and whether she deserves the title, I'm going to be making it extra difficult for her. After the first round is over, Kasai will be fighting all three s-class wizards."

"What?! That's crazy!" Gray said, looking over at the woman, eyes wide.

"All… three…?" Kana whispered, shocked and looking at the red head.

"Furthermore, all of you are going to watch." The Guild Master added.

"She's gonna get her ass kicked!" Gajeel stated, unnerved by the woman's calm, almost happy expression.

"In addition, they have been instructed to hold back for the rest of you, but won't be for Kasai. Their only restriction is to _try_ and not destroy the entire island."

"Still think I was 'randomly' promoted, Kana?" Kasai couldn't help asking, looking at the expression on the alcoholic's face. "Will I have a round two, or will that be it?"

"I think that will suffice…. Unless the rest of you want her to compete _with_ you for the title of s-ranked wizard." He asked the rest of the group, everyone shaking their heads 'no'.

2.

"The Master must have a lot of confidence in you." Guildarts commented, looking at the small girl standing before them. Two out of three of the s-ranked wizards had arrived, their fighting arena being a section of beach on the side of the island. Erza was likely still fighting.

She stood there with her hands in her pockets, trying to analyze the wizard. "Yeah. Honestly, I'm a little nervous about the destruction with 4 powerful wizards fighting. I could feel your magic all the way from the ship, from when you fought Natsu."

"Don't count me out, Kasai. I'm pretty powerful, too." Mirajane said, although not in her transformed state yet.

"I don't doubt it. But I've already got a strategy for you." Kasai said with a wink. "Guildarts, on the other hand… All I know about you is that you use a cube technique."

"Likewise, all I know about you is that you use fire and blood magic." He said, causing her to chuckle. "It's kind of cool being able to fight two dragonslayers in one day. You're only a second generation dragonslayer, right?"

"Yeah, but I was trained by a first generation." She told him.

"Natsu?"

"My mom."

"Alright, I'm here," Erza said, joining the group.

"How'd your team do?" Kasai asked, curious.

"They failed."

"They didn't stand a chance, did they?" Mirajane asked her, and the red head simply smiled.

"So is our audience present?" Kasai asked, looking up at the ridge, where the winners of the first round stood and sat. Kana was one of them, and she couldn't help but smirk at her. One she saw Natsu among them, though, she couldn't help but feel fired up just by the sight of him. Her hands lit up.

"Be careful, Kasai! Guildarts is stronger than he looks!" Natsu yelled, surprising the young woman, but causing her to chuckle.

"Thanks for the heads up! Wish me luck!" She yelled back, smiling, and turning to find Erza already in her armor and Mirajane transformed into her Devil form.

"If you fail this test, Kasai, you will be stripped of your rank! Don't mess up!" The Guild Master stated, grinning at her frown. "Begin!"

Erza was the first to run towards her, sword drawn, but half way she found herself sinking in muddy sand. She tried to jump out of it, but it was like quicksand, and swallowed her up. It absorbed her magic. Only her head remained above ground. "You may want to wash up in the ocean after this match." She suggested, and then ran out of the way to dodge Mirajane's energy attack thrown at her.

Easily, Kasai used her blood magic to absorb her magic, making her pass out and increase Kasai's magic exponentially. In case she woke back up, she created the typical handcuffs.

"How did she take out my sister….?" Elfman asked from the ridge, watching in amazement as his sister fell with seemingly no attack.

Erza managed to jumped out of the mud, her mermaid armor helping her counter the water in the mud that she had used.

Guildarts hadn't moved yet.

"You're gonna have to do better than that!" Erza yelled, charging at her again.

"Whirlwind attack!" Kasai yelled, falling onto her shoulder and swinging her legs around, making a movement similar to breakdancing move. A combination of blood, fire, and wind all fired at the woman, too quick for her to dodge.

Again, she latched the handcuffs on her during the confusion, so when she eventually fell to the ground, she was unconscious.

And then there was Guildarts.

"I forfeit."

"WHAT?!" Everyone screamed, even surprising the fire woman, all charged up from the magic of Erza coursing through her veins. She had used up Mirajane's magic with the whirlwind attack.

"Guildarts, you can't just give up!" The Guild Master yelled at him.

To make it easier for him, Kasai discretely caused the ground beneath him to liquefy and pull him down, the same attack that she had used on Erza, although she only sunk him down to his waist. "He's trapped, so I win." She said, resting her hands behind her head.

He had so much magic, she didn't even want to try to absorb it like the other two. She could barely handle the magic of Erza, which she was visibly burning through. Kasai wondered if the older wizard didn't want to fight her for that reason, concerned that she might absorb his energy and lose control, endangering the other wizards.

"It's gonna suck to clean these pants, ya know." Guildarts said, frowning.

"If you need an extra pair for the rest of the trip, I brought some large sweat pants you can wear."

"Kasai you're supposed to be fighting him not giving him you're clothes!" Natsu yelled from the ridge overlooking the fight, the only person not speechless.

"If you'd rather him hang around me half naked…"

"No, damn it!"

She couldn't help but smile, loving to tease the man.

"Fine. The winner of this battle is Kasai. Are you guys happy with her rank now?" The Guild Master asked, smiling when they all nodded, all of them still trying to comprehend what they just saw.

Kasai reversed the spell on Guildarts, causing his body to rise from the mud. "Can I go home now?" She asked, still on fire.

"You don't want to stay and watch me become an s-class wizard!?" Natsu yelled, causing her to sigh.

"Fine, I'll stay…"

"Woohoo!"

"Natsu, when you finish the next round, win or lose, send up some fireworks and I'll find you. In the meantime, I'm just gonna go meditate somewhere…" She said, waving him off and then walking away from the group.

3.

After Kasai saw a flare shooting into the sky, she was surprised by how soon it was, but still went to investigate. By the time she got there, she didn't find Natsu, but instead Gajeel fighting two Grimoire Heart wizards.

She guessed that Levy had sent the flare up, knowing that the fire woman was waiting for Natsu to signal her. Why Grimoire Heart wizards were on the island, she had no idea, and could only assume that the pair needed her help.

The battle was almost done, though, and Gajeel seemed to be enjoying the battle. Levy was nowhere in sight, and she guessed that Gajeel had told her to run so that he could fight.

The red head stayed hidden, for the time being, ready to join the battle if she needed to.

After the enemies and Gajeel had fallen, she revealed her position and walked towards him, just in time for Erza, Juvia, and Levy to come out of the forest. "Looked like you were having fun." Kasai told the dragonslayer, a cocky chuckle reverberating against his chest.

"Yeah, haven't had a challenge like that in a while." He said, and Levy looked up at her.

"Why didn't you help him!?"

"I didn't want to ruin his fun. By the time I got here, he was already winning." She said, looking at the young wizard. "You sent up the fire, yeah?"

"Yeah, I had hoped that you could help Gajeel and I. I was worried that you would realize it wasn't Natsu's fire and not come."

"I knew it wasn't his, but thought I'd investigate anyway." She said with a shrug, and then noticed Erza sending up her own flare, causing a glowing red orb to glow in the sky. "More fighting?"

"Sorry Kasai, but it looks like it."

"I was hoping to take a nap…" She complained, causing the other red head to yell and hit her for being lazy.

4.

Men in bubbles were falling down onto the island, all members of the Grimoire Heart Guild. Erza, Juvia, and Kasai were all standing in a circle with their backs together, surrounded by them. "Well this is annoying. I'm going to run ahead to help the others, you two alright here?"

"You're just going to leave?" Juvia asked, causing the woman to roll her eyes.

"These guys are weak." She said, easily using her mud magic spell to make them sink and be harmless. "There, happy? I've got tree roots keeping them still. I'm worried about Wendy and the others."

"I take it that you have a fast way of getting there?" Erza asked, smirking at her.

"Yeah, actually."

"Then go, we'll be fine." Erza said, starting to run and dragging Juvia along with her. Kasai jumped in the air with the aid of her fire magic, and then cast an air magic spell to send herself hurtling towards the direction of the fire tower they had seen moments ago. On the way, she took out a few of the bubbles, and used her fire magic to stay on course and in the air.

When she got nearer, she saw Natsu, Wendy, and the cats were fighting off the enemy. "Kasai!" Natsu yelled, seeing the familiar fireball flying towards them.

She smirked, excited for trying out her new attack.

"Blood-mud-tree magic combo: spread attack!" She screamed, using her falling momentum to punch her fist into the ground, the biggest aerial attack she had ever pulled. Her blood magic poured from her fist into the ground, further mixing with the mud and spreading through the entire island's dirt and rock.

Her blood magic popped up all around the island, attacking all of their enemies and zapping their magic, along with turning into restraints powered by their own magic. It wasn't strong enough to take down the 7 Kin of Purgatory along with the two other powerful wizards she wasn't familiar with, but it took down all the weaker ones. At least it would save the others a lot of time and magic fighting them.

The force caused the ground beneath her to crack and break considerably, and the force from her descent was too much for her arm.

As the dust around her cleared, she looked up at Natsu, who was peeved at her. "Come on, I was hoping to beat those guys up! Look at what they did to my scarf!" The fire breather yelled, trying to show his now blackened scarf.

"I'm _so sorry_ for helping our friends take out 100 bad guys in one move." She said sarcastically, and stood up casting a healing spell on her arm. "That attack should have taken out all the rest of those bubble guys."

"Seriously!?" Happy asked, flying over to her. "You took out all of them in one attack? But we saw tons of them falling onto the island!"

"I may have taken out the weaker ones, but there's still about 9 or so extremely strong enemies on the island. My magic didn't do much to harm them." She admitted, her boyfriend not impressed.

"You could take down Erza but you can only take down the weak enemies?"

"I got more than you did, idiot!"

"Who you calling an idiot!?"

"You!"

"You just took out all of our little foot soldiers, huh?" A new enemy asked, long blond hair swaying in the wind. He stood on top of a rock not too far away, glowing with black fire, and watched them in mild amusement. "You little fairies are going to get eaten."

"Kasai, you stay out of this! I'm going to take this guy down!" Natsu yelled at her, and she shrugged.

"Fine, whatever. When you need me, let me know." She said, shrugging, and walked over to the rest of the group and sat down.

"What!? Natsu, stop being so cocky!"

"Don't worry, I won't let Natsu get hurt too badly. If the fight gets out of control, I'll take him down." Kasai said, criss-crossing her legs and getting ready to meditate. "Besides, while he's fighting him I can use my long range magic to help the others. I'll cast shield magic around us in case their magic gets out of hand."

5.

"I thought you weren't going to let it get out of hand!?" Happy yelled, causing Kasai to open her eyes and look at the battle.

Natsu was suddenly gone, and through clearing smoke and dust, she saw the blond guy the little pyro was supposed to be beating up. Her boyfriend was nowhere to be seen. "Sorry, got distracted by watching the fight with Lucy, Gray, Kana, and Leo. They're not doing so hot." She said, and slowly moved up to her feet. "I was hoping Natsu would buy me a little more time. Where'd he go, anyway?"

"He fell down there!" Happy yelled, pointing to the forest below them.

"You guys go try to find him. I'll take care of this guy." She said, letting her shield fall.

"You think you can take on a God?" The blond asked, smirking at her.

"All of you guys specialize in Lost Magic, right?" She asked calmly, watching the group fly off in the corner of her eye.

"You guys aren't getting away that easily!" He yelled, shooting his black flames at them, but she easily used her wind magic to divert the attack.

"It's pretty rare that I meet other people skilled in old magic." She said, smirking.

"You must be Taiyo, or Kasai." He said, and she frowned.

"Darn, I was hoping you'd never heard of me. It's more fun to see people's surprised faces when I catch on fire and zap their magic." The red head said, watching his black flames with care.

"Your name has been circling around, apparently you really pissed off Kiken. After you killed his little girlfriend, he's looking forward to having your head on a platter. Literally." He said, chuckling.

"I didn't kill her." She said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Like I care!" He yelled, and threw one of his black flames at her, which she easily dodged.

"Are you Taiyo, code named Gecko, of the Fairy Tale Guild?" A new person asked, interrupting the fight. Both of them looked over to the new fighter, surprised by his presence.

Although she had never met him directly, she recognized him from Sarah's memories. He was one of the newer recruits of the Blood Guild, one of Kiken's new favorites, but had a knack for light magic. When Sarah first met him, he was only 13 years old, and now he looked closer to 20.

"Yes, I am." She answered. "Kiken sent you?"

"Oh come on, no one told me you guys would be here!" The blond guy yelled, obviously pissed off. "What the hell, man!? This is MY Guild's turf!"

"Actually, it's mine!" Kasai yelled at him, suddenly pissed that his guild was attacking hers. "This is sacred ground jack ass!"

"I came here on my own vessel. When I saw that there was an attack, figured it would be the best time to procure this specimen for my master." The new intruder answered the blond man; skull bones in his eyes instead of pupils, head shaved, and scars riddled along the skin that they could see. He wore a black shirt with his Guild's symbol on it, a blood drop with intricate designs in the middle, and blue pants. Several gold earrings lined his ear, shimmering brightly against the sun.

"Tch, whatever. I'm going to go finish off that little Salamander." The blond said, and although she wanted to stop him, hoped that Natsu would be able to handle himself against him long enough for her to beat this other guy.

He was a puppet, but he was also trained in extremely lethal magic. If he felt like he couldn't accomplish the mission, he could simply detonate himself and try to take down as many people as he could. Maybe even the entire island, including her fellow Guild members.

It's entirely probable that Kiken was using sources other than the library, so he likely has a spell that she had no idea about.

With the meditation spell, the psycho could train wizards for years in only a matter of seconds. There's no telling what this kid knows.

"My Master wishes your presence."

"You're one of his puppets, right? Haku, was it?" She asked, surprised by his lack of facial expression.

"I'm surprised… you know me by name."

'You don't look surprised…' she thought to herself. "Sarah showed me everything about your Guild, and I have passed along that information to my Guild Master, who has undoubtedly shared that knowledge with the Magic Counsel. If I have my way, I'll be personally taking down your Master for the atrocities he has committed."

He stood there, without expression.

Not a bat of an eye, nor increase or decrease in heart rate.

Steady breath.

Just stood there.

"You've already hit your limit, haven't you?" She asked, her expression turning solemn. "The blood magic is taking its toll, and whatever magic he's forced on you to see the results of."

He started walking towards her, completely devoid of emotion.

"I guess lucky for me. You'll be easy to take out." She said, watching him carefully nonetheless.

"If you don't surrender, I will be forced to fight you, and win."

"Sorry kid… I really do mean that." Kasai said, readying her first attack.

6.

"That kid sure liked explosions." Kasai commented, looking over at the cage she had created for him. Some 100 yards away from the mainland, a 45 degree angle from her, her tree limb held the young boy she had fought, completely encased by the wood. "Unfortunately… it looks like he'll be making his last one."

The battle had taken longer than she had hoped. She couldn't get the image out of her head from the first time Sarah had met him, the young 13 year old with curly brown hair and smile, so she ended up wasting time trying to get through to him. To try and convince him to let her help him, to undo the damage, and give him some semblance of a life left.

But he was devoid of any emotions.

In a way, he was just a walking corpse.

The magic he used was tricky, and she was right about there being new spells.

There was another explosion somewhere else on the island. A moment later, the cage holding her enemy shook.

"I hope my friends are alright."

1.

"You didn't take out _any_ of the 7 kin?" Natsu asked, snickering at her. She stuck her tongue out at him, her head still resting on her folded arms. "For someone so strong, you seem to miss out on the action lately."

"How many entire guilds have _you_ taken down on your own?" She asked. "None? Wow, seems like you're the one missing out."

"Someone's in a grumpy mood."

"Oh, I also beat Guildarts, who kicked your ass." She added, making him growl at her and then stomp away.

"That was unusually cold of you." Lucy commented, watching the red head further bury her face in her arms and further messy her short hair.

"I might just go home. I'm too depressed to be around people today." Kasai said, and sighed.

"What's got you down?" Lucy asked, realizing that she'd been moody the past few weeks.

"Let's just say that there are crappy people in the world and some of them are stupid." She said, and looked up at her. "I realized, when contemplating some new information I gathered, that a bad guy I thought was a mad scientist, is actually just a psychotic idiot with no respect for human life."

"Can I ask who this idiot is…?"

"Kiken. The Guild Master of the Blood Guild." She said, not surprised when the woman looked at her confused.

"And… he's a psychotic idiot?"

"Instead of forcing other people to use dangerous magic and then learning how to make it more effective for the next group, like a controlled experiment, he simply uses whatever spells don't kill them immediately and has the next group use it with no modification. He used MY notes for blood magic, and without modifying it in the slightest, has been making young wizards use it and kill themselves in the process." She ranted, sitting upright and punching her fiery fists in the air.

"Wait… so… you're upset because he's using your research to kill people?" She asked, her voice on the verge of shaking from the level of seriousness in her friend's words.

"Yes! He took the preliminary notes from a 13 year old girl on ancient dangerous magic that had 0% success rate, used it on himself, and instead of modifying it to actually work he just used as it is and manipulated other people to do it, too. If he had at least made it better there would be some reasoning behind it, but he's just been wasting human lives for no reason!"

"That's terrible!"

"And I can't do anything about it until the Magic Council gives us a go." She finished, slumping back into her folded arms and moping again.

"Now I'm sad." Lucy said, crying and in the same position as Kasai.

"Did I hear you right, Kasai," Makarov suddenly asked, walking up to the girls and standing on the table that they were at. He looked down at the young girls, his expression critical, eyes locked on the young red head. "That you create spells?"

"No, you didn't hear me right." She said, sitting up with her arms still folded, but now over her chest. "I modify spells."

"But you actually change spells that others have created for your own needs?"

"Well, yeah. Working with 2,000 year old spells usually require considerable maintenance before they can be used. Otherwise they may be powerful, but they use a ridiculous amount of magic because the original creators were working with limited resources. Most wizards didn't live to be that long, so they didn't have to worry about the side effects." She explained, surprised by the perplexed expression on the old man's face. "I like to think of the Ancient, or 'Lost' magic I find in textbooks as rough drafts."

"Wait, seriously?" Erza asked from nearby, joining the conversation. "I've heard of wizards creating spells after years and years after studying the kind of magic, but simply modifying something you've never used is impossible."

"Ugh, this is why I don't tell people about my magic. They don't get it or they don't believe me."

"When we see you study your notes, aren't you just translating the text?" Erza asked.

"Pfft, I've been reading Ancient since I was 5. It's as clear to me as common language. What _you_ see me doing is questioning the translation, finding hidden meanings, speculating side effects, figuring out if it's worth exploring, etc. Most of the other monks were proficient in this, too. If there wasn't the stupid sexist rule they could have saved me a lot of time and energy by telling me instead of making me figure it out on my own…. If they had taught me I could probably create my own spells." She whined, slouching on the table again with her face in her arms. "Kiken should know better since he was taught by them. Instead, he killed them to eliminate competition."

"That's a very rare gift." Makarov said, suddenly understanding more about the girl.

"Imagine how much more awesome I could be if I could take those books with me from the library. So many spells…"

"Geeeeez, you're so whiney today." Natsu spoke, coming back to the group.

"Seriously? You can manipulate spells and you're complaining that you can't manipulate _more_ spells? I would give anything to have that kind of ability!" Lucy said, staring at the moping girl.

"Since I burned my last notes, and Kiken is an idiot that wants my notes, I'm hesitant to go back to the library… but I really really really wanna." She said, crying, and causing sweatdrops to appear on everyone's heads.

"You know that Fairy Tale has its own library, right?" Lucy asked, causing Kasai to look up at her.

"… oh yeah. How is the ancient collection?" She asked, now sitting up.

"In terms of Lost Magic, none." Makarov said, causing her to slump over and mope again.

"But they do have ancient poetry and other cool stuff." Lucy added, surprised that the young woman was so selective with her reading.

"I may ask your assistance with some of my spells in the future, assuming you're telling the truth." Makarov said, turned, and walked away from the small group that had formed.

"Come on, let's do something fun! I got a job for us!" Natsu said, taking a seat across from his girlfriend and trying to show her a flyer that he had grabbed.

"What is it?" Lucy asked, taking a look at it. "Is that the same cursed island we did that one job on?"

"Yeah! They want help with fireworks for a festival that they're doing tonight! It's perfect for our us!" He said, Gray now joining the group at the sound of a job.

"Fireworks?" Gray asked behind Lucy. "All we have to do is set off magic fireworks?"

"That's what the flyer says." Lucy said, looking it over. "It's not that much money, but it should be fun."

"The natives are pretty cool." Gray commented, remembering the last party they had there.

Kasai didn't look up, still moping at not being able to work on her spells. Despite her lack of enthusiasm, Natsu grabbed her and threw her onto his back, smiling at the group.

"This is tomorrow night, yeah?" Lucy asked.

"Yup."

"I'll let Mira know that we're taking the job. We'll meet here at noon tomorrow, and then head over to the docks."

"Sounds good!"

2.

Natsu, as per usual, was miserable on the ship and hurling his lunch over the side.

Lucy was showing off her bikini, sunbathing with Erza, and lounging on the deck while the pirates did all the work. Kasai was surprised at Erza's connection to these pirates, and their strange devotion to her, but then again, nothing should surprise her about the group by now.

"So you can modify spells, huh?" Gray asked, walking up to the bored looking fire woman. She was leaning against the railing, a few yards away from Natsu, just staring off into the horizon before he spoke to her. "Do you know any ice magic?"

"Yeah, but just the basics." She admitted, and to show him, made a small ice ball appear in her hand. "I also know a really fun ice skating spell that I haven't tried since I was a kid. I broke my leg while trying it when I was 10."

"You really do have an infinite bag of tricks." He said, causing her to smile.

"Magic clicks better in my head than most." She admitted.

"I'll bet you have a lot of ideas for the fireworks tonight."

"Honestly, I haven't really thought about it." She said, and looked up at the sky. "I had just planned to use my fire magic."

"We're all here for you, ya know." The Ice man said, changing the conversation topic and causing her to look at him. "It may not seem like it, but we're all worried about you. Especially Natsu."

The red head sighed, turning so that the railing would press against her lower back, and she could look at the pirates and wizards around the ship.

"The guy is an idiot, but he cares about you."

"Did you know that I was homeless when I first came to Magnolia?" She asked suddenly, causing him to blink at her.

"No, I didn't. I was, too."

"My mom had just died, and I was in hiding, promising myself to not use magic again in order to prevent violence. I didn't want people to get hurt." She explained, and her gaze going back up to the clouds in the sky. The light breeze felt nice on her skin, her white shirt surprisingly breathable. "Anyway… I couch surfed, trying to find work and figure out the complicated currency system on the town. I made friends at the Fairy Tale Guild, since my mom had spoken highly of it."

"Why didn't you just join the Guild when you came to town? You'd be surprised at how many people were in similar situations when they came to Magnolia."

"I didn't want to fight." She said simply. "I also knew that if I joined, I would have to use my fire magic, and that would attract the attention of Tanashimi…. Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. The point of my rambling is that even though I wasn't a wizard, Natsu offered to let me live with him."

"Wait, you guys were roommates at one point?" He asked, surprised. "Before you joined the Guild?"

"Yep. He spent so much time at Fairy Tale and on missions that we didn't bond too much at the time, but even though he didn't know me, didn't know that I was a dragonslayer like him, he let me stay with him until I got on my feet." She explained, smiling softly at the memory. "I love Natsu, and I hate to make him worry. He makes me smile more than anyone."

They both looked over at the man, who was slumped over the railing and miserable.

"What he doesn't have in brains, he makes up for with his heart." She explained, watching him suddenly fall onto the deck, crawling around like a snail, and begging random pirates to make the ship stop moving.

"That's Natsu for ya."

3.

"Woohoo!" Natsu cheered, doing silly dances with the demon natives and occasionally shooting up flares of fire, swinging Kasai around and doing fun little 'acts' with her. They would throw fire at each other, throw each other around, and just acted silly as they drank and had fun.

The night before, Natsu had made her practice with him some of the routines, but a lot of them were on the fly. They made sure that their outfits matched.

When it was time for the fireworks to start, all of the wizards gathered on the edge of town, and shot up their magic into the air. Red, blue, yellow, gold- and then, Kasai had taken Gray's suggestion of making more fun fireworks, and managed to create a spectacle of dragons and fairies that would rain down on the town's people. Sparkles, mythical creatures, anything fun and exciting that she could think of, she made rain down on them and play with the town's people before vanishing into glitter and sparks.

"That's amazing!" Happy said, standing on the ground near them and watching the magical wonder they created.

"Holy crap! This is awesome!" Natsu yelled, watching as a little fairy creature floated to him, bopped him on the nose, and then vanished. "We should join the circus!"

"Glad you took my advice." Gray commented, noticing that the woman seemed relaxed for first time in weeks.

"Keep on shooting the fireworks, guys. They're not paying us to just stand around and gawk." The red head told them, causing them to laugh and start shooting their magic into the sky again, creating a wonderful background to the mythical creatures flying around the island.

After the fire works were over, there was still some partying in the village, but the fire couple decided to disappear into the forest instead.

"Where did Natsu and Kasai go?" Lucy asked, noticing their disappearance sometime later.

"I saw them running into the woods after the fireworks." Happy said, nomming on a fish as they stood by a bonfire. "I wouldn't go after them if I was you."

"I guess they deserve some alone time after all this partying. They have been the main event, after all." She said, giggling, and looking over at her other team members having fun.

In the woods, the two red heads didn't waste any time. Once they were far enough away from the village and their friends, confident that they wouldn't be interrupted or spied on, their lips locked.

They started rushed and hungry, Natsu pushing her into a tree and his hands immediately on the exposed skin of her hips while his lips captured hers. She bucked her hips against his, her right hand tangling itself in his hair while the other trailed down his muscled arm. His tongue licked her moist lips and teeth, begging for entrance, but she played coy and wouldn't let him access to her mouth.

Her hand, trailing down his arm, landed on his hip, and played with the hem of his pants. The contact riled him up, causing him thrust his own hips onto hers, his need for her evident and pushing into her thigh. As his hand slowly moved upward to her breast, the other cupped the side of her face, just as he finally managed to slide his tongue across hers.

He had a fire in his belly, but it wasn't his fire magic.

After what seemed like an eternity of dancing tongues and fervently writhing against each other, he moved his mouth to her neck, biting down on her tender flesh and eliciting a moan. He thrust against her again, his tongue licking at the bruise he just created. "Why are we still wearing clothes?" His low voice spoke into her skin, causing a shiver to run down her spine.

His hand, gently cupping her breast, tweaked her nipple, causing another moan.

He couldn't help but smirk, his other hand venturing towards the hem of her pants, calloused fingers gingerly dipping beneath the band and caressing her pale skin. "Why aren't you inside me?" She replied, smirking back, still feeling his pulsing member straining against the fabric of his pants and nudging her.

Urgently, she tugged off his vest and scarf while he pulled at her top. Her breasts fell free, and although he was excited to get her pants off, couldn't help but bring his lips to her nipple and give a gentle lick and kiss.

She moaned, clenching her jaw and grabbing his hair roughly, and groaning the words "Stay focused", causing him to chuckle into the kiss that she pulled him into, their lips mashing together. She was a lot closer than she was willing to admit, her nether region warm and pulsating.

Soon after he pulled away, his fangs shining in the moonlight, lips smirking at her flushed face. "I need to stay focused?" He growled, suddenly grabbing her wrists and pinning them above her head. With his free hand, he unbuttoned her pants and slipped beneath her underwear. One of his fingers dipped into her folds, massaging what he could find and discovering that it was wetter than he had anticipated. She bit down on his shoulder, hard, causing him to gasp and groan against the pain.

Their breathing was labored; shallow and excited.

He continued massaging her nether region, loving the feel of her squirming in hunger beneath him, while she continued to bite and he would unmercilessly force her hands into the bark of the tree. The tree was leaving dents and scratches along her exposed skin, while his hands bruised them further. He had learned early on in their relationship that she liked pain, and given her healing spells, he didn't need to hold back.

He pushed himself against her, thrusting his hips in unison with his hand, causing her eyes to roll back in pleasure. "Natsu," She breathed, and he kissed her; a gentle and slow, yet passionate, kiss that he poured all of his love for her into.

She had her first orgasm, but he wasn't done, and was determined to continue until they came together. "We're not done." He reminded her, his voice deep and gruff against her ear, causing her brief satisfaction to spark and turn her on again. He thrust against her again, his throbbing member pushing against her thigh, and he suddenly wondered how much self-control he had left.

"Our clothes are still on." Kasai reminded him, whispering against his ear.

He took a step back, relinquishing his grip on her to take his pants off, and she did the same in that time. The cool night breeze sent a shiver down their spines, their sweat amplifying the coldness and making them crave the other's warmth even more.

The fire woman stepped over to her bag to grab the condom, Natsu's hands gently caressing her left butt cheek as she bent over and slipped a finger into her. "A little patience?" She asked flustered, finally grabbing the condom and turning around, finding his lips on hers again.

"Get on the ground." He ordered, her clitoris twitching in anticipation and a new set of juices flowing. He didn't give her much time, immediately shoving her down, making her fall against soft grass and twigs. When she sat up, he shoved her back down, her back flush against the cool ground.

His warm skin against hers was maddening, and yet she craved it, needing more of him. Needing him inside her.

His hand grabbed the condom from hers, at which point she wasn't aware, and before she knew it he was pushing her legs to either side of him and positioning himself at her entrance.

His penis slipped into her, causing both of them to moan. Heat flooded through their midsections, spreading through their chest and making them want more..

She reached her hand to his chest, feeling his taught muscles beneath his skin, and gently pinched his perked nipple.

He pulled out, fell into a half push up position with his lips on hers, and then pushed himself in again. "Natsu," She breathed, the sound of his name on her lips causing him to lose control and begin pumping into her as fast as he could.

Her hands explored his torso, feeling his muscles move and contract, further turning her on as he moved inside her.

"I'm close." He whispered into her ear, and then nibbled on it. His gruff voice nearly sent her over the edge.

"Same." She said, and then together their bodies tensed, his teeth biting down on her collar bone and breaking her skin while she dug her nails into his side and back.

He fell on her, breathing hard, but placing kisses along her neck lovingly.

After a moment he rolled over, and Kasai cuddled up to his side, both of them falling into a blissful sleep.

4.

The next morning they returned to the village, and since they overslept, the rest of the team was already waiting for them by the edge of the village. The team was merciless in teasing them.

Kasai wore a white long sleeved shirt the next day that covered most of the evidence from the night before, but there was one mark peaking just below her collar that Lucy had spotted, along with tiny droplets of blood covering the back. Her healing magic wouldn't have it completely healed until the end of the day, so there was no way to conceal the teeth marks that had punctured her skin or the ugly bruise around it.

Natsu's bite marks were covered by his scarf, and his vest covered most of the scratches, but there were still a few on his abdomen that were blatantly obvious.

"Where'd you two sneak off to last night?" Lucy asked, smiling knowingly while Happy snickered from nearby.

"Someone got lucky." Gray said, noticing the scratch marks and flushed face.

Natsu, normally so open and forward about everything, was unusually quiet and awkward on the matter. "You two used protection, right?" Erza asked, causing them both to blush.

"Come on, shouldn't we get back to the boat? I'll bet the pirates are waiting for us!" Natsu said, trying to change the topic. Erza was like a big sister, or more importantly arch rival, and he didn't want her knowing _anything_ about his sex life.

"Judging by the vampire bites I'd say 'no'." Lucy said, furthering their red faces.

"Or the shackle marks." Happy said, continuing his snicker, and pointing out the bruises/cut marks on her hands. She immediately put them in her pockets, glaring at the cat.

"Oh hey, I think the pirates are leaving without us!" Natsu yelled, and then started running away towards the docks.

5.

"This sucks!" Natsu yelled from his spot on the floor, gripping at his hair and leaning back into the couch. "Erza sucks!"

"Phrasing." She said, causing him to gag.

"DAMN IT!"

"I know it's lame, but at least she pulled us to the side and was discrete about it. She could have been evil and announced she was quizzing us on sex to the entire guild." Kasai reasoned, not making him feel much better. She noticed that the book in his lap was open to a page showing a non-flattering image of an infected two headed penis, which for whatever reason or ritual, was basically a regular penis split in half. " _That_ is disgusting."

"I'm never having an erection again."

"Say that again after a week." She challenged, the fire man glaring at her.


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note:** I'm sorry that I haven't been keeping up with my schedule, but thank you to everyone that favorites, follows, and/or reviews my story! Thank you all for reading this! :)

When I originally wrote this chapter, I was in the middle of the island arc, and didn't know that it would be the time skipping episode… by the time I realized there would be a time skip, I'd already written this entire chapter. I went through and edited it so that it would work with the time skip, but if you find a spot where it doesn't match up with the show… that's why.

 **Chapter 16** (actual)

 _Parents_

She was just about to run after her friends, when a voice reached her ears and caused a shiver to run down her spine. The feel of fire magic hadn't scared her since she was a child, and at that moment, she had never felt so monumentally shaken.

"Where is my daughter!?"

The molasses spell appeared on its own, having been activated by the fast moving object approaching her face.

The women stared at each other, matching brown eyes and equally red hair flowing in the wind. The older woman, completely covered in fire, stood there with her fist frozen in her spell and glare set on her shocked face. "Where is my daughter!?" She yelled again, the words piercing through Kasai's chest.

"You're dead." Kasai whispered, watching as the older woman's second fist collide with her invisible wall. "Kiken used forbidden magic to raise you from the dead."

"Where is my daughter!"

A broken record, but her magic was the real deal. The molasses spell was beginning to crack.

Kasai took a few steps back and created a bubble spell around her, essentially a shield that would surround her and absorb her magical energy to reinforce itself. Once the molasses spell broke, she redirected her energy to the bubble, and punched it with all of her power. Kasai watched as the woman's fire filled the entirety of the pink shield, making the woman seem much more intimidating. She looked like a demon from hell.

The wind picked up, and in the distance, Kasai heard screams from her comrades.

"In some ways… you haven't changed." The young woman commented, tears running down her face. "I missed you… mom."

Even with the force field in place, magical energy was rippling from it in waves, small bits of fire beginning to escape through the cracks that were forming.

The fiery demon broke out of the first spell, so much anger in her body that Kasai could hardly believe it. "Where is my daughter?!"

She didn't recognize her.

It shouldn't be surprising.

Resurrection magic could make someone come back to life, but only a shell of what they used to be. Kiken managed to revive her and give her one purpose, probably using the spell that he used on Natsu once, making the woman unable to recognize her daughter but feel compelled to find her.

She's a dead woman walking.

The bubble finally broke, and Kasai easily could have ended the battle right then and there, but didn't want the fight to end yet.

"Mom."

Her mom, much like Natsu, was the kind of person that loved to solve her problems with her fists. When she trained Kasai at a young age, it was rare for her to hold back with her attacks; as a result, the little girl learned the importance of dodging attacks aimed to kill.

Her mother taught her the importance of analyzing your own strength as well as the enemy's, and if your power couldn't match it, don't go in head on.

The warmth of her fire made her smile.

"Where is my daughter!?" The dragonslayer roared, her power felt from all over the island, and her dragon strength evident behind the powerful roar. In terms of her strength, she was stronger than Natsu and the other dragonslayers; which, given the age difference, wasn't all that surprising.

Kasai had to brace herself against that roar, using her magic to dampen the sound and reduce the damage to her ears.

She had never heard her roar like that. The power was like nothing she had ever felt or seen.

"I will use your strength, mom. I will take down Kiken. I will protect my friends." She promised, and ran towards her mother, who ran towards her ready to give a powerful punch.

She was caught in her molasses spell again, but this time Kasai made it encase her entire body. As the woman was trapped, Kasai used a new spell she had been working on to absorb her magical energy and store it in her blood magic.

As the woman was getting drained and struggling against the binding spell, Kasai wrapped her arms around her mom for the first time in several years.

It would also be her last. "I love you."

1.

"Who's there?" Kasai asked, turning away from the pile of dust at her feet, and facing a new enemy hiding nearby. "Show yourself."

A strange man, a few inches taller than her, emerged from the shadows. He had dark hair, and his eyes glowed red against his pale skin.

She sensed dark and intense magic from him, so she kept her distance and guard up. "Who are you?"

"Was that woman… you look just like her." He said, his eyes watery.

Confused, she stood there for a second, locking eyes with the strange man. "She was my mom. A man by the name of Kiken resurrected her body to fight me." She explained, causing him to look down in sadness.

"So much darkness…"

"You never answered my question."

"I knew her… a long time ago. After I had discovered compassion…" He rambled, not meeting her questioning stare. "I have never cared for anyone the way I cared for her."

"You knew my mom, huh? I don't remember her mentioning you. Although, it might be easier if you said your name."

"I can tell by your magic… that you're my daughter." He said, causing her body to tense. "I have caused a lot of pain and death in my time… you have the same potential."

"No offense, but I don't really believe you. My dad ditched us before we were born, and my mom said he was a traveling sales man."

"I have been wandering this world for 400 years. I had no intention of staying, and she knew that." He said, his words confusing her. "I'm sorry that I can't be a father to you. But I thought it fair to warn you of your potential…. As the daughter of Zeriff."

Her eyes widened, and suddenly she could feel his magic emanating from him, the power behind it outmatching her mother's and much, much darker. The power had her frozen in place, unable to do anything but stare at the powerful dark wizard before her.

And then he walked away.

Just like that.

He was gone.

2.

It took her a while to process the information and take it in.

After a few minutes, though, her fists clenched. She heard a roar that she had heard only a few times, but the power behind it didn't match the man behind it.

"Natsu."

She started running towards the source as fast as she could, heart racing, blood pumping, mind racing. "Natsu!" She yelled, and when she was within seeing distance of the ship he was on, used her air magic to launch herself at it. The wind was harsh against her skin, lashing out at and seemingly hitting her.

"Kasai!" The pink-haired man yelled, watching his girlfriend fall from the sky and land in-between him and the powerful wizard before them.

The woman looked at her new opponent, and then turned to look at her friends, all of whom were lying on the ground beaten and torn up. On the floor below them, she could see Laxus in similar condition.

"Oh man, are we glad to see you! I used up all my magic with that last attack!" Natsu said, causing a small smile to appear on her lips. She had been worried that the blond guy had hurt him, but he was still fighting and kicking.

"Who is this guy?"

"He's the second leader of Fairy Tale, and responsible for hurting our friends!" Erza explained to her, and the sight her injuries made Kasai's chest tighten. If the s-class wizard could be beaten…

"You think you can beat me, little girl?" The taller wizard said, gaining her attention again. "They also failed to mention that I took down your Guild Master."

Her hands tightened into fists.

"You use dark magic, right?" She asked, causing him to chuckle evilly and nod. "Then this is your unlucky day. Because I just had to fight my mother's corpse, and I really need to beat the hell out of someone. I also have a theory that I need to test out."

"You think you can defeat me, little-" He asked, but was cut off by a swift punch to his gut, the force of it causing him to double over. While he was down, she kicked him, causing him to smash into one of the last remaining walls, the force causing it to crumble. "This… this can't be!" He yelled, and removed the eye patch from his eye.

Before he'd cast it, Kasai had created the bubble spell to surround them and prevent his magic from reaching her friends. They were encased in darkness, but her friends were safe.

"Now… to test my theory." She said, raising her hand and finding herself strangely comfortable with the dark magic that surrounded her.

"Kasai!" Natsu yelled, watching the red head disappear within the dark bubble. They couldn't see through the magic, but they could see the occasional monster brush against the edge and make faces at them. None of them could see either of the wizards, and although they had confidence in Kasai, were worried.

"She can handle it." Lucy said, holding down the fire man and keeping him from running in there. "She'll be okay."

He was trembling, both from the restraint and from the attack he had used just moments before. "If he could survive that fire and lightning attack, there's no telling what could do to her." He said, punching the ground. He'd never felt so weak and useless before, and he hated that feeling.

Moments later, the dark magic cleared, along with the force field.

Kasai stood there, looking relaxed with her hands in her pockets, watching the man before her sit in fetal position with his eyes wide. "It can't… how did you… so terrifying…"

"I feel better. Anyone else I can beat up for you guys?" She asked, turning back to them with a cheeky smile.

3.

Kasai seemed to be the only one not seriously injured, but stayed to the sidelines as everyone joked around and picked on each other.

The sight of them cheered her up, but she wasn't quite up for joining them. Juvia was probably the most entertaining to watch, the young blue-haired woman so desperate that she crawled around asking for Gray to spank her repeatedly, getting rejected every time.

"Hey, why aren't you joining us?" Natsu asked, taking a seat next to her. "It's no fun just watching everyone." He said, grabbing her hand and interlacing their fingers together.

"I'm just tired. After the fight with my mom…"

"Oh yeah… I remember you saying that. What happened, exactly?"

"I… how about we talk about this after we get home?" She asked, causing him to give her a worried look.

"You sure? You can talk to me, ya know."

"I know… I just… don't feel like talking about it yet.

4.

Once they returned home, after the 7 year jump, Kasai and several other women were homeless, or faced with serious debt.

In Kasai's case, she wasn't in debt, but she was homeless. Her landlord didn't waste any time in finding a new tenant after she had left, so luckily she didn't have to pay any rent for her absence. Since she didn't have too many things, the landlord simply sold her furniture and shoved the rest of her belongings in a duffel bag, then put the duffel bag in one of her personal storage facilities. The money received for the furniture covered the cost of manual labor and any other miscellaneous fees, plus some.

So the red head was at the Guild Hall by the end of the day, her duffel bag filled with books various personal belongings, moping with the other girls.

"What's up with you guys?" Natsu asked, walking up to them.

"We have 7 years of rent to pay." Levy spoke, speaking for most of them.

"I'm homeless." Kasai said, her elbow resting on the table and cheek against her palm, eyes resting on his. "Luckily I don't have debt, though. My landlord sold off my furniture and put my personal belongings in this bag, after only a month of being gone."

"Why don't you stay with me? It'll be like when you first came to Magnolia." He offered. "Except, you don't have to move out, if you really don't want to." He added, a soft blush on his cheeks.

"Are you asking me to move in with you?"

"Lucky!" Most of the girls said in the background.

"Well where else would you go? Besides, I spent so much time at your place it felt like we were living together anyway."

"Yeah, Natsu's a real man!" Elfman cheered from nearby, causing sweatdrops to form on the couple's heads.

"I'd love to move in with you." Kasai said, grinning at him.

1.

"She's teaching him how to dance, huh?" Kasai asked from the sidelines, watching the blond dance with her boyfriend and couldn't help feeling a little jealous. Now she suddenly knew how Natsu felt when she was around half naked men- Lucy was wearing the bare minimum of clothes and dancing awfully close, a habit she noticed forming on the island. It seemed like her clothing was getting skimpier by the day.

"Is this a game?!" Gray asked, coming out of nowhere and trying to join in, throwing his shirt off and trying to dance with Lucy.

While she was busy 'disqualifying' the ice maker wizard, Kasai snuck in and stole her boyfriend for a dance. "Hey there, handsome." She said, feeling the glare on her back from Lucy.

"You stole my dance partner!"

"Hey there, beautiful." He said, causing some of the gathering wizards to gawk at how cute they were. They both quickly skittered away from Lucy, luckily Erza grabbing the blond for a dance, and went back to swaying back and forth. "I didn't know you could dance."

"I can't." She admitted, both of them grinning at each other with a soft blush on their cheeks. Soon enough, more couples started dancing as well, and it was one huge dance party. Even though Natsu and Kasai weren't great dancers, they stepped around the around dancers, avoiding getting hit by Erza's spinning partners, and enjoyed stepping around the dancing area in each other's arms.

"It's too bad they're not playing salsa music."

"Eh? How did you know I-"

"You asked me to dance a long time ago, remember?" She asked, referring to when they first started dating, and he had drunkenly tried to dance with her. Happy had been singing badly in the background.

"… no…"

"You were drunk."

"Oooh… that's why." He said, chuckling and smiling at her.

1.

"You didn't take out _any_ of the 7 kin?" Natsu asked, snickering at her. They had all started recounting their experiences on the island before their 7 year disappearance, and Natsu was delighted to have succeeded at something that his girlfriend didn't. She stuck her tongue out at him, her head still resting on her folded arms. "For someone so strong, you seem to miss out on the action lately." He said, also referring to their time in Edolas.

"I didn't take out one of the kin, but I took out their leader. How many entire guilds have _you_ taken down on your own?" She asked. "None? Wow, seems like you're the one missing out."

"Someone's in a grumpy mood."

"Oh, I also beat Guildarts, who kicked your ass." She added, making him growl at her and then stomp away.

"That was unusually cold of you." Lucy commented, watching the red head further bury her face in her arms and further messy her short hair.

"I might just go home. I'm too depressed to be around people today." Kasai said, and sighed.

"What's got you down?" Lucy asked, not used to seeing the girl depressed. Usually she was delighted and happy so long as Natsu was around, albeit a bit touchy since she found out about her Buddhist friends dying.

"Let's just say that there are crappy people in the world and some of them are stupid." She said, and looked up at her. "I realized, when contemplating some information I had gathered, that a bad guy I thought was a mad scientist, is actually just a psychotic idiot with no respect for human life."

"Can I ask who this idiot is…?"

"Kiken. The Guild Master of the Blood Guild." She said, not surprised when the woman looked at her confused.

"And… he's a psychotic idiot?"

"Instead of forcing other people to use dangerous magic and then learning how to make it more effective for the next group, like a controlled experiment, he simply uses whatever spells don't kill them immediately and has the next group use it with no modification. He used MY notes for blood magic, and without modifying it in the slightest, has been making young wizards use it and kill themselves in the process." She ranted, sitting upright and punching her fiery fists in the air.

"Wait… so… you're upset because he's using your research to kill people?" She asked, her voice on the verge of shaking from the level of seriousness in her friend's words.

"Yes! He took the preliminary notes from a 13 year old girl on ancient dangerous magic that had 0% success rate, used it on himself, and instead of modifying it to actually work he just used it as is and manipulates other people to do it, too. If he had at least made it better there would be some reasoning behind it, but he's just been wasting human lives for no reason!"

"That's terrible!"

"Most of my information is outdated, too. I've heard that he's been getting more and more power hungry and crazy in our absence. And in the end, I can't do anything about it until the Magic Council gives us a go." She finished, slumping back into her folded arms and moping again.

"Now I'm sad." Lucy said, crying and in the same position as Kasai.

"Did I hear you right, Kasai," Makarov suddenly asked, walking up to the girls and standing on the table that they were at. He looked down at the young girls, his expression critical, eyes locked on the young red head. "That you create spells?"

"No, you didn't hear me right." She said, sitting up with her arms still folded, but now over her chest. "I modify spells."

"But you actually change spells that others have created for your own needs?"

"Well, yeah. Working with 2,000 year old spells usually require considerable maintenance before they can be used. Otherwise they may be powerful, but they use a ridiculous amount of magic because the original creators were working with limited resources. Not to mention the terrible unneeded sacrifices. Most wizards didn't live to be that long, so they didn't have to worry about the side effects." She explained, surprised by the perplexed expression on the old man's face. "I like to think of the Ancient, or 'Lost' magic I find in textbooks as rough drafts."

"Wait, seriously?" Erza asked from nearby, joining the conversation. "I've heard of wizards creating spells after years and years after studying the kind of magic, but simply modifying something you've never used is impossible."

"Ugh, this is why I don't tell people about my magic. They don't get it or they don't believe me." She said, grumpy and annoyed by the conversation.

"When we see you study your notes, aren't you just translating the text?" Erza asked.

"Pfft, I've been reading Ancient since I was 5. It's as clear to me as common language. What _you_ see me doing is questioning the translation, finding hidden meanings, speculating side effects, figuring out if it's worth exploring, etc. Most of the other monks were proficient in this, too. If there wasn't the stupid sexist rule they could have saved me a lot of time and energy by telling me instead of making me figure it out on my own…. If they _had_ taught me I could probably create my own spells." She whined, slouching on the table again with her face in her arms. "Kiken should know better since he was taught by them. Instead, he killed them to eliminate competition."

"That's a very rare gift." Makarov said, suddenly understanding more about the girl.

"Imagine how much more awesome I could be if I could take those books with me from the library. So many spells…"

"Geeeeez, you're so whiney today." Natsu spoke, coming back to the group.

"Seriously? You can manipulate spells and you're complaining that you can't manipulate _more_ spells? I would give anything to have that kind of ability!" Lucy said, staring at the moping girl.

"Since I burned my last notes, and Kiken is an idiot that wants my notes, I'm hesitant to go back to the library… but I really really really wanna." She said, crying, and causing sweatdrops to appear on everyone's heads.

"You know that Fairy Tale has its own library, right?" Lucy asked, causing Kasai to look up at her.

"… oh yeah. How is the ancient collection?" She asked, now sitting up and suddenly okay.

"In terms of Lost Magic, none." Makarov said, causing her to slump over and mope again. "Our library has also been diminished considerably while we were gone…"

"But we do have ancient poetry and other cool stuff." Lucy added, surprised that the young woman was so selective with her reading. "There's also book shops in other parts of Magnolio, if you're willing to pay for them."

"I may ask your assistance with some of my spells in the future, assuming you're telling the truth." Makarov said, turned, and walked away from the small group that had formed.

"Come on, let's do something fun! I got a job for us!" Natsu said, taking a seat across from his girlfriend and trying to show her a flyer that he had grabbed.

"What is it?" Lucy asked, taking a look at it. "Is that the same cursed island we did that one job on?"

"Yeah! They want help with fireworks for a festival that they're doing tomorrow tonight! It's perfect for us!" He said, Gray now joining the group at the sound of a job.

"Fireworks?" Gray asked behind Lucy. "All we have to do is set off magic fireworks?"

"That's what the flyer says." Lucy said, looking it over. "It's not that much money, but it looks fun."

"The natives are pretty cool." Gray commented, remembering the last party they had there.

Kasai didn't look up, still moping at not being able to work on her spells. Despite her lack of enthusiasm, Natsu grabbed her and threw her onto his shoulder, smiling at the group.

"This is tomorrow night, yeah?" Lucy asked.

"Yup."

"I'll let Mira know that we're taking the job. We'll meet here at noon tomorrow, and then head over to the docks."

"Sounds good!"

As soon as they had made the plans, Natsu and Happy were gone, Kasai taken hostage with them.

2.

Natsu, as per usual, was miserable on the ship and hurling his lunch over the side.

Lucy was showing off her bikini, sunbathing with Erza, and lounging on the deck while the pirates did all the work. Kasai was surprised at Erza's connection to these pirates, and their strange devotion to her, but then again, nothing should surprise her about the group by now.

"So you can modify spells, huh?" Gray asked, walking up to the bored looking fire woman. She was leaning against the railing, a few yards away from Natsu, just staring off into the horizon before he spoke to her. "Do you know any ice magic?"

"Yeah, but just the basics." She admitted, and to show him, made a small ice ball appear in her hand. "I also know a really fun ice skating spell that I haven't tried since I was a kid. I broke my leg while trying it."

"You really do have an infinite bag of tricks." He said, causing her to smile.

"Magic clicks better in my head than most." She admitted.

"I'll bet you have a lot of ideas for the fireworks tonight."

"Honestly, I haven't really thought about it." She said, and looked up at the sky. "I had just planned to use my fire magic with Natsu."

"We're all here for you, ya know." The ice man said, suddenly changing the conversation topic and causing her to look at him. "It may not seem like it, but we're all worried about you. Especially Natsu."

The red head sighed, turning so that the railing would press against her lower back, and she could look at the pirates and wizards around the ship.

"We can tell that you're upset, which is understandable after fighting your mom. It's hurting Natsu a lot to see you upset."

"Did you know that I was homeless when I first came to Magnolia?" She asked suddenly, causing him to blink at her.

"No, I didn't. I was, too."

"My mom had just died, and I was in hiding, promising myself to not use magic again in order to prevent violence. I didn't want people to get hurt." She explained, and her gaze going back up to the clouds in the sky. The light breeze felt nice on her skin, her white shirt surprisingly breathable. "Anyway… I couch surfed, trying to find work and figure out the complicated currency system on the town. I made friends at the Fairy Tale Guild, since my mom had spoken highly of it."

"Why didn't you just join the Guild when you came to town? You'd be surprised at how many people were in similar situations when they came to Magnolia."

"I didn't want to fight." She said simply. "I also knew that if I joined, I would have to use my fire magic, and that would attract the attention of Tanashimi…. Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. The point of my rambling is that even though I wasn't a wizard, Natsu offered to let me live with him."

"Wait, you guys were roommates back then?" He asked, surprised. "Before you joined the Guild?"

"Yep. He spent so much time at Fairy Tale and on missions that we didn't bond too much at the time, but even though he didn't know me, didn't know that I was a dragonslayer like him, he let me stay with him until I got on my feet." She explained, smiling softly at the memory. "I love Natsu, and I hate to make him worry. He makes me smile more than anyone."

They both looked over at the man, who was slumped over the railing and throwing up.

"What he doesn't have in brains, he makes up for with his heart." She explained, watching him suddenly fall onto the deck, crawling around like a snail, and begging random pirates to make the ship stop moving.

"That's Natsu for ya."

"I may seem sad now, but so long as he's by my side, I'll be okay. I just need a little time to heal."

3.

"Woohoo!" Natsu cheered, doing silly dances with the demon natives and occasionally shooting up flares of fire, swinging Kasai around and doing fun little 'acts' with her. They would throw fire at each other, throw each other around, and just acted silly as they drank and had fun.

The night before, Natsu had made her practice with him some of the routines, but a lot of them were on the fly. They made sure that their outfits matched.

When it was time for the fireworks to start, all of the wizards gathered on the edge of town, and shot up their magic into the air. Red, blue, yellow, gold- and then, Kasai had taken Gray's suggestion of making more fun fireworks, and managed to create a spectacle of dragons and fairies that would rain down on the town's people. Sparkles, mythical creatures, anything fun and exciting that she could think of, she made rain down on them and play with the town's people before vanishing into glitter and sparks.

"That's amazing!" Happy said, standing on the ground near them and watching the magical wonder they created.

"Holy crap! This is awesome!" Natsu yelled, watching as a little fairy creature floated to him, bopped him on the nose, and then vanished. "We should join the circus!"

"Glad you took my advice." Gray commented, noticing that the woman seemed relaxed for first time in weeks.

"Keep on shooting the fireworks, guys. They're not paying us to just stand around and gawk." The red head told them, causing them to laugh and start shooting their magic into the sky again, creating a wonderful background to the mythical creatures flying around the island.

After the fire works were over, there was still some partying in the village, but the fire couple decided to disappear into the forest instead.

"Where did Natsu and Kasai go?" Lucy asked, noticing their disappearance sometime later.

"I saw them running into the woods after the fireworks." Happy said, nomming on a fish as they stood by a bonfire. "I wouldn't go after them if I was you."

"I guess they deserve some alone time after all this partying. They have been the main event, after all." She said, giggling, and looking over at her other team members having fun. "They seemed to have a lot of fun with their fire dancing."

In the woods, the two red heads didn't waste any time. Once they were far enough away from the village and their friends, confident that they wouldn't be interrupted or spied on, their lips locked.

They started rushed and hungry, Natsu shoving her into a tree and his hands immediately covering the exposed skin of her hips while his lips captured hers. She bucked her hips against his, her right hand tangling itself in his hair while the other trailed down his muscled arm. His tongue licked her moist lips and teeth, begging for entrance, but she played coy and wouldn't let him access to her mouth.

Her hand, trailing down his arm, landed on his hip, and played with the hem of his pants. The contact riled him up, causing him thrust his own hips onto hers, his need for her evident and pushing into her thigh. As his hand slowly moved upward to her breast, the other cupped the side of her face, just as he finally managed to slide his tongue across hers.

He had a fire in his belly, but it wasn't his fire magic.

After what seemed like an eternity of dancing tongues and fervently writhing against each other, he moved his mouth to her neck, biting down on her tender flesh and eliciting a moan. He thrust against her again, his tongue licking at the bruise he just created. "Why are we still wearing clothes?" His low voice spoke into her skin, causing a shiver to run down her spine.

His hand, gently cupping her breast, tweaked her nipple, causing another moan.

He couldn't help but smirk, his other hand venturing towards the hem of her pants, calloused fingers gingerly dipping beneath the band and caressing her pale skin. "Why aren't you inside me?" She replied, smirking back, still feeling his pulsing member strain against the fabric of his pants and nudging her.

Urgently, she tugged off his jacket and scarf while he pulled at her top. Her breasts fell free, and although he was excited to get her pants off, couldn't help but bring his lips to her nipple and give a gentle lick and kiss. He nipped at the little nub, swiftly taking it into his mouth and swishing his tongue around it.

She moaned, clenching her jaw and grabbing his hair roughly, and groaning the words "Stay focused", causing him to chuckle into the kiss that she pulled him into, their lips mashing together. She was a lot closer than she was willing to admit, her nether region warm and pulsating.

Soon after he pulled away, his fangs glinting in the moonlight, lips smirking at her flushed face. " _I_ need to stay focused?" He growled, suddenly grabbing her wrists and pinning them above her head. With his free hand, he unbuttoned her pants and slipped beneath her underwear. One of his fingers dipped into her folds, massaging what he could find and discovering that it was wetter than he had anticipated. She bit down on his shoulder, hard, causing him to gasp and groan against the pain.

Their breathing was labored; shallow and excited.

He continued massaging her nether region, loving the feel of her squirming in hunger beneath him, while she continued to bite and he would unmercilessly force her hands into the bark of the tree. The tree was leaving dents and scratches along her exposed skin, while his hands bruised them further. He had learned early on in their relationship that she liked pain, and given her healing spells, he didn't need to hold back.

He pushed himself against her, thrusting his hips in unison with his hand, causing her eyes to roll back in pleasure. "Natsu," She breathed, and he kissed her; a gentle and slow, yet passionate, kiss that he poured all of his love for her into.

She had her first orgasm, but he was determined to continue until they came together. "We're not done." He reminded her, his voice deep and gruff against her ear, causing her brief satisfaction to spark and turn her on again. He thrust against her again, his throbbing member pushing against her thigh, and he suddenly wondered how much self-control he had left.

"Our clothes are still on." Kasai reminded him, whispering against his ear.

He took a step back, relinquishing his grip on her to take his pants off, and she did the same in that time. The cool night breeze sent a shiver down their spines, their sweat amplifying the coldness and making them crave the other's warmth even more.

The fire woman stepped over to her bag to grab the condom, Natsu's hands gently caressing her left butt cheek as she bent over and slipped a finger into her. "A little patience?" She asked flustered, finally grabbing the condom and turning around, finding his lips on hers again.

"Get on the ground." He ordered, her clitoris twitching in anticipation and a new set of juices flowing. He didn't give her much time, immediately shoving her down, making her fall against soft grass and twigs. When she sat up, he shoved her back down, her back flush against the cool ground.

His warm skin against hers was maddening, and yet she craved it, needing more of him. Needing him inside her.

His hand grabbed the condom from hers, at which point she wasn't aware, and before she knew it he was pushing her legs to either side of him and positioning himself at her entrance.

His throbbing member slipped into her, causing both of them to moan. Heat flooded through their midsections, spreading through their chest and making them want more.

She reached her hand to his chest, feeling his taught muscles beneath his skin, and gently pinched his perked nipple.

He pulled out, fell into a half push up position with his lips on hers, and then pushed himself in again. "Natsu," She breathed, the sound of his name on her lips causing him to lose control and begin pumping into her as fast as he could.

Her hands explored his torso, feeling his muscles move and contract, further turning her on as he moved inside her.

"I'm close." He whispered into her ear, and then nibbled on it. His gruff voice nearly sent her over the edge.

"Same." She said, and then together their bodies tensed, his teeth biting down on her collar bone and breaking her skin while she dug her nails into his side and back.

He fell on her, breathing hard, but placing kisses along her neck lovingly.

After a moment he rolled over, and Kasai cuddled up to his side, both of them falling into a blissful sleep.

4.

The next morning they returned to the village, and since they overslept, the rest of the team was already waiting for them by the edge of the village. The team was merciless in teasing them.

Kasai wore a white long sleeved shirt the next day that covered most of the evidence from the night before, but there was one mark peaking just below her collar that Lucy had spotted, along with tiny droplets of blood covering the back. Her healing magic wouldn't have it completely healed until the end of the day, so there was no way to conceal the teeth marks that had punctured her skin or the ugly bruise around it. If she hadn't fallen asleep after the sex last night, she would have cast her healing spell and been healed by morning.

Natsu's bite marks were covered by his scarf, and his vest covered most of the scratches, but there were still a few on his abdomen that were blatantly obvious.

"Where'd you two sneak off to last night?" Lucy asked, smiling knowingly while Happy snickered from nearby.

"Someone got lucky." Gray said, noticing the scratch marks and flushed face.

Natsu, normally so open and forward about everything, was unusually quiet and awkward on the matter. "You two used protection, right?" Erza asked, causing them both to blush.

"Come on, shouldn't we get back to the boat? I'll bet the pirates are waiting for us!" Natsu said, trying to change the topic. Erza was like a big sister, or more importantly arch rival, and he didn't want her knowing _anything_ about his sex life.

"Judging by the vampire bites I'd say 'no'." Lucy said, furthering their red faces.

"Or the shackle marks." Happy said, continuing his snicker, and pointing out the bruises/cut marks on Kasai's hands. She immediately put them in her pockets, glaring at the cat.

"Oh hey, I think the pirates are leaving without us!" Natsu yelled, and then started running away towards the docks.

5.

"This sucks!" Natsu yelled from his spot on the floor, gripping at his hair and leaning back into the couch. "Erza sucks!"

"Phrasing." She said, causing him to gag.

"DAMN IT!"

"I know it's lame, but at least she pulled us to the side and was discrete about it. She could have been evil and announced she was quizzing us on sex to the entire guild." Kasai reasoned, not making him feel much better. She noticed that the book in his lap was open to a page showing a non-flattering image of an infected two headed penis, which for whatever reason or ritual, was basically a regular penis split in half. " _That_ is disgusting."

"I'm never having an erection again."

"Say that again after a week." She challenged, the fire man glaring at her.

1.

Grocery shopping was the only thing that she did on her own, since Natsu was so overprotective of her. Given her history of being attacked when alone, she didn't mind it, and the shopping she did twice a month allowed breathing room for her.

It shouldn't have surprised her when an enemy in sheep's clothing approached her on her way home.

It shouldn't have hurt her so much.

"Taaaaiyo," He spoke, stepping towards her, hunched over. "You're my friend."

"Taiyo is wonderful." The woman spoke at his side, their hands interlocked.

Dead smiles on their faces.

Reanimated corpses stepping towards her. They were wearing their old sparring outfits from when they were 14.

"Taiyo, we missed you," They said in unison.

"David… Sarah…."

Kasai dropped her grocery bags on the ground.

"Taiyo, we missed you."

She remembered Sarah's memory of Kiken reanimating corpses. She remembered her mother. The spell, although effective at making them move, would only allow the bodies to focus on one thing. After 24 hours, they would break down and turn to dust.

"Taiyo, we-"

1.

"Why are you upset _now_?" Natsu asked, poking at his girlfriend's scalp.

"Nothing."

"Didn't you have fun at the last mission?" Lucy asked, surprised that her friend had gone from so happy to miserable in such a short amount of time.

"Yeah. It was awesome." She said, lacking any positive emotion.

"Are you upset about that Kiken guy?"

"I don't want to talk about it." She replied, not having the will or energy to fake being happy.

"Hey Natsu, I heard that Erza wants to fight you out back." Gray said, causing the man to excitedly jump out of his seat and run off.

"This I've gotta see." Lucy said, running off to join him and leaving the two wizards alone.

The Guild Hall, more like a shack now, was quiet that day and surprisingly empty. Only a couple wizards hung out, most of whom were busy reading or lost in their own thoughts. "I noticed you being followed at the market yesterday." He spoke, getting her attention and sitting across from her. "So I followed you to make sure that you'd be okay."

Staring into his dark eyes, she just waited for him to continue speaking.

"They called you Taiyo, which means that they were from your past." He said, watching her expression carefully.

"David died 2 or 3 years ago. Sarah died in the old Guild Hall, that day when she stabbed me and disappeared. The teleportation spell she used was cast incorrectly, a fatal mistake." She explained, causing his eyes to widen. "What you saw yesterday was Kiken sending my friend's corpses to scare me. He sent my mom on the island, and when he heard I was back, sent a little reminder that he was still around."

"That… that's… I can't even…." Gray spoke, unable to find the words to describe or comfort her. He sat there, clenching his fists, and staring at the woman who looked at the table with sadness in her eyes. She looked defeated, tired, and her unwillingness to meet his gaze made him more angry. "Why didn't you tell Natsu or the others? Have you told anyone that he was the one that sent your mom on the island?"

"We can't fight until the investigation with the Magic Council is complete, and they give us permission to attack. You think Natsu has the restraint to not retaliate if he heard about any of this?" She asked, glancing back up at his face, his bangs now guarding his gaze from hers. "Or for that matter, the rest of the Guild? If I recall, Fairy Tale went to _war_ with another Guild when Levy and her group got a little roughed up. I can't imagine how they'd react to reanimated corpses of my loved ones."

"So you're just going to suffer quietly, is that it?" He finally asked.

"I'll be fine in a couple of days… I just need time to emotionally recoup."

"I guess I understand why you want to keep this quiet… but you need to talk to someone. Just moping around and not telling anyone why is stressing everyone out." He explained, beginning to chill out.

"Like you?" She asked, noticing that he'd calmed down.

"It doesn't have to be me, but if you're worried about everyone else getting _fired up_ … you can talk to me and I promise to not freak." He said, starting to take his shirt off. She chuckled.

"Thanks, Gray. I may take you up on that offer."

"I can't find Erza anywhere, you lying piece of crap!" Natsu yelled, coming out of nowhere and punching him in the face.

2.

"So you want to learn ice make magic, huh?" Gray asked, surprised at her request.

"Yeah… Learning a new form of magic sounds like a fun challenge." She replied, smiling and slightly aloof. "I understand if you don't want to teach me, though. I'm not much of a teacher myself."

"If I did teach you, it would be hard work. It's not like fire magic where you just get emotional and hit stuff."

"Sounds fun." She replied, hands in her pockets and relaxed in her step. "Natsu may want to chaperone."

"He'll probably get bored and go home. Depending on your learning curve, a lot of it will just be standing around in the snow." He said, imagining the pyro stomping around the snow searching for monsters to fight. "How've you been?" He asked, the tone in his voice referring to her recent visits from her past.

They were currently on a job with their group, but for various reasons the rest of them had either run off ahead or were too caught up fighting to pay attention to them. There was apparently a gang of bandits in the area terrorizing the town, and they were hired to apprehend and take them to the authorities. For the past half hour they had been wandering around the forest, waiting to be attacked or find any of the bandits.

"Talking to you surprisingly helped… I'm alright. A bit antsy, but otherwise good."

"Glad to hear it."

"I figure learning ice make magic might get my mind off of it, too." She explained, and then glanced up at a nearby tree. "Hey there! You're not, by chance, one of the ass-hole bandits that we've heard so much about, are you?"

3.

"Ice make magic? What the hell do you need to learn that for? And why does it have to be from Gray?" Natsu asked, temporarily not eating so that he could talk to his girlfriend. They were all at Natsu's small house, eating breakfast at the dinner table, when Kasai had brought it up. Happy continued munching away at his food while the two spoke.

"Well, I can't learn old magic, since the Temple was destroyed in our absence and the libraries in Magnolia suck. Not to mention anything I take notes on has the danger of being stolen." She said, remembering when she burned her blood magic notes… the notes she had spent hundreds of hours on and were her last connection to the library. Sure, she had some notes left, but most of them she had already studied so much she'd memorized them.

"If you want to practice magic, I'll fight you…. Unless you're afraid of me beating you." He said, smirking, and leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head.

"Who are you kidding, Natsu? She can kick your butt in one move." Happy asked, remembering all the times that Kasai had beaten him in a single move, when she was too tired to fight but the fire man wouldn't let her rest until they did.

"Shut up!"

"I want to learn new magic. Intellectually I'm bored out of my skull and I need a challenge." She told him, locking eyes with him.

"You're my girlfriend and I say no."

"I'm not asking your permission. You're welcome to chaperone, though."

"You knew that wouldn't work, right Natsu?" Happy asked, looking up at his best friend.

"It was worth a try." He conceded, going back to his food. Kasai chuckled. "When do you start training? I might do some jobs with Lucy."

"I'm surprised you don't want to babysit Gray and I." She admitted, surprised at how okay he was with them training together.

"I trust you, and know that you can handle yourself." He answered, looking her in the eye. "Plus, if you get attacked and I'm not there, Gray can help you. Since Tanashimi is on the loose and your ex has an entire Guild as his arsenal… I just don't want you to be alone." He admitted, causing his girlfriend to be speechless.

"Wow, Natsu, are you feeling okay?" Happy asked, looking concerned for his friend. "Have you been replaced by an alien?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!?"

"I think we should get him to a hospital, Kasai, before he grows a second head."

"He is acting odd…" Kasai agreed, further annoying the man.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

 _Drinking = bleh_

"Natsu, I'm stealing your girlfriend for the night." The woman said, and tugged on the Kana's arm, dragging her to her feet and out of her boyfriend's arms.

"Girls night out." Erza added, standing next to Kana who was holding Kasai by the arm. Erza linked arms with the other red head, smiling at Natsu. Mirajane appeared on the other side of Erza.

"Eh? I'm going too." Natsu said, starting to get up, but then being shoved by down by Erza.

"Nope, girls only. We'll bring her back tomorrow." Erza said, much to the man's annoyance, but he knew better than to argue with her.

"Fine, but you better take good care of her."

"Don't worry, we'll keep her safe." Mirajane said, grinned mischievously, and locked arms with Erza as they left the Guild Hall.

"Have fun, my baby girl!" Guildarts yelled to his little girl, getting all mushy.

"Dad, you're embarrassing me!"

1.

"Ya know, I've chaperoned girl nights, but I've never been part of one." Kasai commented, leaning against the counter of Mirajane's kitchen. "Will your siblings be joining us?"

"Nah, they're out on jobs. We have the house to ourselves." The woman replied, getting her liquor out of her cabinets while Erza grabbed the alcohol they had just bought from the store. Kana was already chugging her wine bottle, and had brought her own alcohol to drink, given her high tolerance.

"Any reason Lucy and the other girls weren't invited?" Kasai inquired, curious about the details involving the evening.

"We might invite them next time, but we thought it would be fine to have an… _older_ , girls night out." Mirajane replied. "You're 20, right?"

"Almost."

"Close enough." Erza said, beginning to mix drinks for the group. "Can you hold your liquor?"

"Not really. I'm a lightweight."

"You probably shouldn't have told us that." Mirajane said, glancing at Erza's evil stare.

"I'm more accustomed to serving alcohol than drinking it." Kasai admitted, nervous when the red head handed her a drink. "You know, the faster I get drunk, the faster I'll pass out. Try not to make me down a bottle of vodka."

"Don't worry, we'll start slow." Erza said, the same evil glint in her eye as earlier. Kasai sipped at her drink, Orange Juice with a hint of fireball whiskey, surprised at the lack of alcohol in it. Once everyone had a drink, they moved to the living room, where they sat in a circle on the floor.

"So do we have plans aside from drinking?" Kana asked, temporarily setting down her bottle of wine and looking at the group.

"How about truth or dare? But every time someone is picked, they have to take a shot before they do the dare or truth." Mirajane suggested.

2.

The next morning everyone woke up with monster hangovers, cuddled up to each other in odd ways.

Apparently they didn't bother finding actual places to sleep, so they kind of just fell on each other didn't bother moving. Erza was missing her shirt, Mirajane and Kasai were wearing their pants around their heads like head bands, and Kana was full nude. Mirajane used Kasai's stomach as a pillow, while Kana cuddled up to Kasai's bare leg, and Kasai's head rested on Erza's thigh.

Paint and marker was smeared all over their bodies.

Various foods were littered around the floor, along with empty containers, empty shot glasses, and near empty vodka and tequila bottles. There were a few new holes in the walls and bruises on their limbs from brief fighting competitions.

Mirajane was the first to wake up, having turned her head to find Kasai's breasts in her face and painful headache begin to set in. She got up, unwrapped the pants from her head, and looked around at the group. Even though it would be a pain to clean up, she couldn't help but smile and giggle at what had transpired the night before.

She went to the kitchen and started brewing coffee for the group. As the aroma began to fill the house, the other women started to stir.

"Why are you naked?" Kasai asked, confused when she found naked Kana _very_ intertwined with her bare leg.

"Why are you pantless?" Erza asked.

"Why are you shirtless?" She countered, pointing out her breasts that were on the verge of falling out of her bra.

"Remember, we had a cooking competition last night." Mirajane said, causing them to pause and try to remember. "It was shirts vs. pants."

"Oh yeah…" They both said. Kasai noticed her pants on the floor nearby.

"What did we cook?"

"Who won?"

"Pizza, was it?" Kasai asked.

"We couldn't decide who the winner was, so we started fighting." Mirajane answered, causing the two mutter an 'oh, yeah'.

"And then Kana started taking her clothes off, which side tracked us into ordering pizza."

"And then we made brownies."

"Tequila brownies?"

"When did the pizza get here?"

"Didn't Kana scare off the pizza guy?"

"I got us free pizza, bitches." Kana mumbled, still attached to the red head's leg.

"I'll bet our pizza was better than yours." Erza said, smirking.

"Didn't we order Chinese food at one point?"

"No, the pizza guy was Chinese."

"Why do I have so many positive affirmations written on me?" Kasai asked, suddenly noticing that her limbs were covered in positive words like 'beautiful!' 'you are wonderful' and various hearts.

"I don't remember doing that…" Erza commented, noticing them on her, too.

"After everyone fell asleep, I thought it would be nice for everyone to wake up with nice words on them." Mirajane said, although not sounding as chipper as she usually did, and sitting on the couch. "I don't think I've ever drank so much before."

"It was fun, though." Erza commented.

"Yeah." Everyone agreed, although Kasai couldn't help but glare at the woman attached to her leg.

"Do you have any idea how awkward this is for me?"

"Too drunk to care." Kana replied, tightening her grip.

"… actually, me too." Kasai commented, and let herself lay back down on the floor, beginning to feel nauseous.

"We should make this a weekly thing." Erza said, causing the other red head to hate her.

"Once I get some coffee and rest, I'll agree to that." Mirajane told her.

"I think I'm going to throw up…"

3.

"Here you go." Erza said, handing the red head to the pink-haired man, and turning away to leave. They both looked like crap, but Kasai couldn't even walk, and was extremely pale from all the puking. They were both still wearing their pajamas from the night before.

Natsu barely caught the woman, having to set her down on a chair because of the lack of good grip.

They were at the Guild Hall, 11 in the morning, and there were numerous other wizards with similar bags under their eyes and short tempers. While the girls had their night out, the guys had a similar idea, drinking and fighting into the late night.

"You look like shit." Natsu commented, trying to make the girl sit upright and so he could look at her.

"Never again…." She groaned, miserable, and causing him to chuckle.

"Did you know that you have the word 'cutie' written on your forehead?" He asked, and couldn't stop the smile tugging at his lips at how adorably miserable she looked. In the back of his mind, he couldn't help but sympathize with her predicament, given his motion sickness.

"Mirajane wrote positive affirmations on us while we were sleeping…." She said, beginning to roll forward into Natsu's chest. Her forehead made contact with his jacket, wishing for the first time that he was colder, like Gray.

"Wow, you look like crap." Happy said, flying over to them.

"Did you have fun, at least?" Natsu asked, grinning at her and trying to push her away slightly to look at her.

"Ask me that when I'm done puking." She said, resting her face moving to rest against his shirt again.

"Do you need to puke now?"

"No… but soon…"

"Someone had fun last night." Lucy said, chipper and smiling as she walked up to them. "I heard you guys did drunk karaoke on Mira's roof."

"I hate everything."

"Come on, let's get you home." Natsu said, and pulled her into his arms, surprised when she clung to him so tightly.

4.

"Why aren't you with Natsu and Kasai?" Lucy asked the little blue cat, hanging out with Levy and Michelle in the Guild Hall.

"Kasai won't stop puking, and Natsu doesn't want to leave her alone. He's thinking about taking her to a hospital."

"She's _still_ sick?" Erza asked, walking up to them after overhearing their conversation.

"Yep. All of yesterday and this morning. What did you guys do to her?" Happy asked, causing everyone to turn towards her, curious about that night. The red head, feeling awkward and guilty, pulled up a chair to sit at the table.

"Hey Mira, you remember more of girls night than I do. Do you know why Kasai would still be sick?" She asked, glad with the white-haired woman could join the conversation.

"Well, she did tell us that she was a light-weight…" She commented. "She's still sick though?"

"Yep." Happy answered. "And because of her healing magic or something, she doesn't want to see a doctor. Every time Natsu brings it up she tries to catch something on fire."

"Oh dear… I guess we did go overboard with the truth or dare game. How many shots did we make her do?"

"7, I think?"

"And then you dared her to drink the rest of the tequila bottle, which was ¼ full. And then we all did group shots."

"She ate most of the tequila brownies." Erza added.

"You kept daring her to drink even after we stopped playing the game… maybe 10 more shots?"

"She was just so gullible, I couldn't help it." Erza replied, smiling at the memory.

"Geez, how is she not _dead_? That's at least 20 shots?" Lucy asked, grimacing at them. "Remind me to never drink with you guys."

"I guess we did go a little overboard."

"You mean _I_ went overboard." Erza said, now feeling even more guilt at the pain of her friend. "And I told Natsu that we would take care of her…"

"She's a tough cookie, I'm sure she'll be okay."

"I dunno, she was looking pretty bad last time I saw her. Natsu wasn't too happy, either." Happy said, causing them both to slump their shoulders in shame. "She was convulsing and hyperventilating last night, and she hasn't been able to keep anything down."

"Now I feel guilty about fighting her over those stupid pizzas…." Erza said, slumped over.

"I think she beat _you_ up, if I remember correctly. Even drunk that woman can fight." Mirajane commented, trying to remember the events of that night.

"That explains the bruises…."

"Wasn't Kana there, too?" Lucy asked, and they nodded. "Did she do anything crazy?"

"For the most part, Kana just took her clothes off and tried to convince the rest of us to do the same. Kasai would get all red and awkward, so Kana would tease her relentlessly and jump on her…."

"I want to join these parties!"

"Girls only!"

5.

"I guess we're even, huh?" Natsu commented, laying in bed with his girlfriend in his arms. She was cold, weakly clutching to his torso, and her cheek resting softly against his chest. He had his back resting against the head of the bed, one leg extended and the other bent, the woman lazily draping her leg over his.

"Huh?"

"My motion sickness." He said. "You try to help me when I'm sick… carrying me when I'm passed out, holding me when I puke so that I don't fall over the railing of the ship or train…. so I'm glad to try and repay the favor."

"Thank you, Natsu. I love you."

"Love you too." He said, and placed a light kiss on her forehead.

"You're the only naked person I want humping me ever." She added, causing him to make a confused and startled face.

"Who else has been trying?" He asked, wondering if there was someone that he should be beating up. If Erza wasn't so scary he would be planning to kick her ass next time he saw her. ' _I'll keep her safe_ my ass.' He thought darkly.

"Drunk Kana."

"Kana has a crush on you?"

"I'm not sure… drunk Kana likes to get naked and jump on me. I'm never drinking with them again."

"I think you just shouldn't drink _that_ much again." Natsu commented, a sympathetic chuckle reverberating against his chest.


	18. Chapter 18

**WARNING:** Rape scene in this chapter. If you are particularly sensitive to rape themes, just skip this chapter, (or just the first section) and although I'll make brief mention to it in later chapters, will try to keep it minimal.

 **Chapter 18**

 _Safe_

Kasai enjoyed walking through the streets at night. There had been an increase in crime during their absence, so it made her feel good to roam the streets and kick people's asses that tried to rob or hurt other people. She hated that people were getting hurt, but she couldn't help but enjoy the look in people's eyes when she saved them.

It was selfish, and she knew it; but it was a kind of selfishness that she was okay with indulging.

Since the time jump, Natsu had been slightly less protective of her, but was still worried about her. After seeing her fight the three strongest wizards of Fairy Tale, he felt safer letting her do things on her own, albeit he still spent as much time with her as he could. While she went out shopping on her own, and these occasional walks, he would spend the time bonding with his long time companion Happy. When he could, he would rope someone else into joining her on these late night walks.

Even though Happy enjoyed having Kasai around (free fish), and he liked that she made Natsu happy, he did get jealous at times. When she noticed the blue cat getting extra antsy and close with Natsu, she would leave for a few hours to let them bond, and they would both be happy at her return.

She didn't come home that night.

The red head, although had seen and experienced a great deal in her life, had never seen something so horrible before.

There were 5 or more men in an alleyway, mostly concealed by the shadows, and slimy sounds coming from the middle of them. They were somewhat circled around two figures, one of them making a grunting sound, the other sounding like a wounded animal with a gag on its mouth.

They were whispering to each other.

"What's going on here?" Kasai asked, her voice loud and authoritive, causing all of them to freeze and become silent.

"What a fox." One of them said to the others.

"Why don't you join us?" One of them asked, emerging from the shadows and stepping closer to her. He had a symbol stamped to his cheek. Purple wife beater shirt, black pants, piercings covering his face.

She looked past him, at the two figures they had been circling, and her heart turned to cement at the sight, disgust slamming her body like a brick wall. As her eyes adjusted, she could see the two figures better, and recognize the smaller one.

"What the hell are you doing to my friend?"

Her body turned to flames, purely fueled by anger, and she punched the one closest to her in the face.

She'd never wanted to hurt someone so badly in her life, and she didn't hold back in her punches. Each of them were bloody and burned within half a minute, blood magic binding them to the brick wall and preventing their escape, should they gain consciousness. It would keep them in place until the police arrived.

"Kasai…" A small voice whined, breaking the woman's heart.

Kana.

Skirt hitched up, shirt on the floor in pieces, her watery eyes staring up at her pleading.

Kasai kicked one of the unconscious men as hard as she could, gritting her teeth down and trying to take calming breaths.

She didn't have a jacket, but she was wearing her dress shirt, which she started unbuttoning. "It'll be okay."

The red head draped the blue shirt over the woman's near naked body, making sure to make slow movements and not scare her further. Kana, still staring at her with blood shot eyes and swollen face, shot her arms out and wrapped them around her neck.

"I'm going to pick you up, okay?"

She nodded, allowing the woman to reach behind her back and under her knees, picking her up from the ground. The brunette kept sobbing, shaking, clinging to the woman, her nails digging into her skin.

"Where do you want me to take you?"

"Da…. Daddy…" She croaked, shaking, making a high-pitched sound.

"Okay, I'll take you to Guildarts. It's going to be okay, Kana." Kasai whispered, and taking one last glance at the assailants to make sure they were secure, walked to the street and ran towards Guildarts's home. As she ran, she looked down and made sure that the shirt covered Kana well enough, suddenly sad that she didn't have a larger shirt or jacket for her to wear.

Luckily, thanks to Natsu, she knew where the older man lived. She took the quickest route, trying to avoid any civilians that might be out at the hour, to avoid embarrassment on the wounded girl's part.

When they reached his house, Kasai found herself in the awkward position of not being able to knock, given that her arms were preoccupied. She had to use her blood magic to knock on the door.

"Guildarts, it's Kana and Kasai." She spoke loudly, on the off-chance that the man was as paranoid as she was when it came to strangers.

"My little girl is visiting!?" He said, and Kasai heard him drop and break something. "Crap… I wish I had known you two were visiting!"

"Just open the door, Guildarts." Kasai grit out, her arms beginning to get sore from carrying her for so long.

When he opened the door, his joyous smile quickly turned to horror and rage.

"She was attacked."

"Who did this to my little girl!?" Her asked, his voice loud and commanding; without thinking he had reached out and grabbed Kasai by the only cloth he could find, which was her sports bra. It was awkward being pulled from there, but she managed to keep her balance and stay cool-headed.

"Daddy." She whimpered, causing his grip to tighten, but his attention to turn towards her. He couldn't see her face, as her hair was wild and she was burying her face into Kasai's neck.

"Alley on Albert St and Volt Ave. They're unconscious, and I tied them to the wall so that the authorities could take care of them. They appeared to be part of a Guild, the Ravens, I think."

" _They_ hurt my baby girl." He said, relinquishing his grip on Kasai, and taking a step back. "Stay here. Protect her. Albert and Volt?" Guildarts expression was wild, and he was so enraged that anything could set him off now. Kasai tried to keep her answers short and to the point.

"Yes."

"Stay here. I'll be back shortly." He said, and disappeared into the night.

1.

Since he had so little furniture, Kasai took a seat on his unmade bed, resting her back against the wall and letting Kana cling to her for support. It broke Kasai's heart to sit there, unable to do anything but sit, stroking the brunette's hair and keeping a warm blanket around her.

Just like Sarah, she didn't protect her.

Her chest ached painfully.

When Guildarts returned several hours later, Kana had fallen asleep. His jacket was torn in places. His knuckles bloody.

"Feel better?" Kasai whispered, noticing that his expression was much softer than before, and that there were now tears in his eyes.

Sighing, he grabbed one of his few chairs and quietly brought it to the side of the bed. He could now see his daughter's face, sadness even in her sleep, and the puffy redness covering her usually beautiful tan skin. "Thank you, Kasai." The wizard now looked at his hands, unable to keep his gaze on his daughter.

"I wish I could do more."

"They were planning to kidnap all the girls of Fairy Tale in order to start a Guild War." He said, his voice deep yet soft. "I didn't find any girls there, but there was evidence that there had been."

"We should send out a warning to our Guild tonight, in case there are any of our people being attacked right now."

"There isn't." He told her, still looking down at his bloodied hands. "I killed all of them, and searched the town for any more of them. I ran into Natsu on my way back here, and he should be here shortly. He's rounding up other Fairy Tale members to do a head count."

"I'm glad you ran into him… it would have freaked him out if I didn't come home tonight." She said, and looked down at the sleeping Kana, who was stirring in her arms. It looked as if she was having a nightmare, so Kasai gently hushed and tried to rock her back to sleep. After a few minutes the small home became quiet again.

The flame of a candle flickered from nearby.

"She'll never be the same." Kasai spoke quietly, finally causing the man to look up at her. "And there's no telling how she's going to react."

He looked back down at his shaking hands.

"Make sure to speak in hushed voices around her, and move slowly. She might be scared of guys for a while, so if she says something mean to you, try not to take it personally."

"… You seem to know a lot about the topic."

"As a bartender, I learned a lot about people." She told him, and sighed, leaning her head against the wall. "She'll need the love and support of her friends and family to get through this."

2.

"It's nice to get out for a while." Kasai yawned a few days later, stretching her limbs and walking away from Kana's home. Natsu was with her, smiling at the woman's resurgence, happy to finally be with her away from Kana. The brunette had been clinging to Kasai like a newborn, not able to handle being alone for even short amounts of time, and Kasai only recently convinced her to try being alone with Lucy and Levy for the rest of the day.

"It's too bad you're the only person she trusts to be around her. She's been sleeping with you more than I have lately." He said, causing the other red head to smirk.

"Jealous?"

"Damn straight." He said, then looked around, and pulled her to the side of the street that wasn't busy. With his hands on her waist, he pulled her into him, kissing her gently on the lips. When they pulled away, he was smirking at the grin on her face, their noses nuzzling together. "My place or yours?" He joked.

3.

After doing a short, and pretty easy job that evening, Kasai and Natsu found themselves back at the Guild Hall.

Everyone greeted Kasai, overly energetic and sympathetic, asking her how Kana was doing. "She's still down for the count, but I think after some rest she'll be ok." She would answer, trying not to give too many details into her condition one way or another. The doctor had said that she would be okay, and although there was some physical damage, most of it was psychological.

"Poor girl… I wish I had had the chance to beat up those guys." The old man with the pipe spoke, many others nodding their heads. "Punks."

"Hurting a member of Fairy Tale like that… I can't say whether they deserved what they got or not, but they as hell deserved a good beating." The other old man added.

"Kasai," Makarov spoke, getting the young woman's attention. "How are you dealing with all of this? You were the one that found her, weren't you?"

"Yeah. I'll be okay. Thanks for asking."

"I was curious… have you read the article about the death toll that night?" He asked, pulling out the Magnolia paper. "Mirajane recognized one of the names on the list…."

Kasai, cautious to read whatever was on the newspaper, nonetheless reached for the paper and began skimming it for names she might recognize.

Blond Pukey Mc. Pukersmit. That was her nickname for her.

Otherwise known as Magnolia Anderson.

She had tried to hire Kasai to be her body guard when she would go out drinking, a few weeks before the time skip. The red head had turned her down for a full-time position, but promised to walk her home on the occasion and recommended other wizards for the job. According to the paper, she had gone missing 5 years ago, and had been dead for 3.

"I need some air."

Natsu watched as his girlfriend turned and walked out the door, a grimace plaguing his usual happy face. "I just got her cheered up, too. Couldn't you have waited before showing her that?" He snapped at the old man.

"You knew?"

"No, but you could have waited a few days."

"She said that she was okay, and she seems to be holding her own very well. I thought she should know…"

"Of course she said she's okay- she's been babysitting a traumatized girl 24/7 for the past 3 days. Today is the first time that she's gotten fresh air since it happened." He explained, and then left, causing the old man and several others to feel guilty.

"Since when is Natsu the voice of reason?" One of them joked, an awkward silence following.

"Both Kana and Kasai are strong. I have faith in them." Erza finally spoke up, causing everyone's spirits to lift a bit.

4.

"You okay?" The pink-haired man asked as he approached her, finding her standing alone in the empty field by the Guild Hall. It was dark, so he couldn't see her face very well, but she was staring up at the stars searching for something out of her reach. Her hands were in her pockets, and although her disposition seemed calm and serene, she was a volcano ready to explode.

She didn't bother looking at him, too busy trying to regulate her breathing and meditate on the sky above her. The moon was a waning crescent, barely a sliver in the sky. The woman had always wished that she had an interest in astronomy, but as soon as she picked up a book on the topic she was already distracted by something else.

"What's the matter?" Happy asked, flying near her and confused by her lack of responsiveness. "You ran out pretty fast."

"How about you go hang out in the Guild Hall for a while, Happy? Kasai and I will join you soon." Natsu said, winking at the small blue cat, and causing him to groan and fly away.

"I never get to stay for the good stuff…" He muttered when he was out of hearing range, but nonetheless obeyed and went back to their friends. In the past when he tried to sneakily stay behind and watch them, Kasai would always manage to find him, regardless of his masterful hiding places and disguises.

"The stars are nice tonight." Natsu commented, deciding to mimic her posture.

It was several minutes of just standing there, staring up at the sky in silence, when Kasai broke it with a question that Natsu loved to hear. "Want to fight?"

He was hesitant to respond, but when he saw the fierceness in her gaze, smiled. "Babe, you don't even need to ask."

As soon as the words left his mouth she threw a punch at him, barely missing his face.

"No magic, huh?" He asked, ducking down to avoid another attack. "Might as well, I didn't want to hurt you too bad anyway…"

After a half hour of fighting, both of them with slightly bruised faces, they went back to the Guild Hall to grab Happy and head home.

5.

She found herself with the brunette again two days later, holding the young woman in her arms and letting her cry on her shoulder. She seemed scared of practically everything, especially when men were nearby, and she'd only calm down if Kasai was there. Otherwise, when the red head was gone, she'd be screaming and thrashing about for hours at a time, resorting to hiding under her bed or dark corners. Luckily she rented her own small house on the outskirts of town, leaving only her friends' ears to suffer when they visited.

"How're my favorite girls doing?" Guildarts asked one day, returning with bags of groceries in his arms.

"I can't speak for Kana, but I'm pretty tired. Neither of us got much sleep last night." The red head replied, soon after yawning into her hand. Kana was clutching her shirt and shaking from the new presence.

"Nightmares?" He asked, and she nodded. "Well, I got some food. I tried to buy more of what she was running low on, and got everything on the list you gave me. I also got donuts." The wizard offered, taking out a box from one of the four bags.

"Awesome." Kasai said, her voice slightly lower and softer than usual. "Would you mind making some coffee?"

"Sure," He replied, energetic to help in any way he could. Normally Kasai would be hesitant to ask anyone to do things for her, but she'd found that the best way to keep him from worrying too much was to keep him busy. Despite his paternal instincts kicking in and wanting to help his daughter like Kasai was, his mere presence frightened her, and he found himself doing various shopping and research adventures to help his little girl instead. Keeping his distance was the only way to help his daughter, so he had to trust the other wizard. "I got Kana an appointment with a therapist in town. There's surprisingly not that many in Fiore, and if this doesn't pan out, we're going to need to travel to get her help."

"Most people think that bartenders are trained psychiatrists, so I'm not that surprised." Kasai said, and then yawned into her hand. "When is the appointment?"

"Tomorrow."

"I don't want to…" Kana whispered to her.

"Don't worry, Kana. There's nothing wrong with getting some help. If you want me to, I can stay with you through the session." She offered, and although the brunette didn't answer, went with the assumption that she was okay with it. "So, have you thought about taking a job in the near future? I've heard that you have a history of taking lengthy ones."

"I'm post-poning work for the time being… I have plenty of money saved up over the years, and this has actually given me an opportunity to fix up my finances and get some of my home in order."

"Is this the longest that you've stayed in town?"

"Well, I used to be married to her mom, and would stay for months at a time… but ever since we split up, I rarely stayed in town for more than a month."

"Until Kana."

"Yep… I have thought about taking smaller jobs, but it seems weird. My attacks are also so powerful, I'm afraid that I'll accidentally cut my employers to pieces." He said, chuckling. "Although, since my last job when I encountered a dragon, I suppose it would be nice to make money without the added risk."

"So that's how you lost all those limbs. I was curious about that." Kasai commented, not meaning to sound as morbid as she did.

"Yep…" He said, drifting off into thought as he looked down at his prosthetic arm, pausing between putting groceries away. Coffee was dripping from the pot. "Have you ever fought a dragon?"

"If my mother counts as one." Kasai replied, a cheeky smile on her face. "She had the power and strength of 10 dragons."

"Where is your mom? Is she part of Fairy Tale, too?" He asked, probably wondering if Kasai had a similar situation that Kana had, joining Fairy Tale to be closer to her mother.

"She died about 5 or so years ago… She was a Fire Dragonslayer like Natsu. When she found fire dragonslayer lacrima, she implanted it in me and taught me what her dragon taught her."

"Wow, so it's like a family trait for you?"

"Something like that."

"I never thought I would meet another fire dragonslayer… having two dragons of the same element train two humans is unheard of."

"Lucky for me, though. Otherwise Natsu and I likely wouldn't be as close." She said, a twinkle in her eye suddenly appearing along with a grin. Guildarts nodded, and looked out the window, admiring the sunny day.

"I'm sorry about your mom. She raised a beautiful woman." He complimented.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

 _Gajeel is a Jerk_

"Kasai?" The voice, unfamiliar, asked the young woman one day. She was in the Guild Hall one afternoon, perusing the wall for jobs, when a small figure hunched over and wearing a cloak had approached her.

Kasai looked down, able to see parts of the shadowed face, and recognized the distinctive nose ring protruding from the cartilage. "Never thought I'd see you again." She commented, albeit a little excited by his presence. Her eyes sparkled, looking at the man with a new intensity and intrigue.

"I have a debt to repay you. I don't like being in debt to anyone." The hunched over figure was an old man, and although she knew it wasn't his actual form, was intrigued by his disguise. When she last saw him, he was 6 feet tall and albino. An extremely OCD man, very particular, and ears the size of an elephant's.

He handed her a folded up piece of paper, which she took with an amused smirk, and hurried out of the small building with his cane tapping with each step.

When she unfolded the paper, her smile widened, and looked around the room to locate Mirajane. "Hey Mira, when did you say that Natsu would be back?"

"Not for another week."

"Can you make sure that Kana is okay until I get back? I have a… personal job I need to check out, and I could be gone for a few days."

"Of course. Where are you going?"

"Thanks, I'll fill you in after I get back." She said with a wink, and eyed the room for her next contact. "Oi, Gajeel. You busy today? Or the next few days for that matter?"

The grumpy Dragonslayer, sitting in the corner munching on a bowl of nails, looked up at her with a scowl. "What the hell do you want?"

"I'm going on an adventure, and could use another dragonslayer. You in?"

"Why the hell would you want me to go? What about your little boyfriend?" He asked, eyeing her carefully as she approached him, an unusual giddiness in her step.

"Natsu and Wendy are going to be gone for another week, and I can't wait that long."

"What's in it for me?"

"If this pans out, Natsu will be pissed that he couldn't join us. I can't tell you the details of the mission until you agree to go." She said, and although she tried to keep her voice low enough for just the three of them to listen (including Lily), other wizards in the Hall tried to listen in to their conversation. A 'dragonslayer only secret mission' would gain the suspicion of any wizard, and the Fairy Tale wizards were no exception.

"Natsu will be mad, huh?" He asked, chuckling.

"Will it be dangerous?" Lily asked, eyeing the woman carefully.

"Probably. We may not even survive." She commented, watching Gajeel's expression carefully, not missing the 'challenge accepted' smirk appear on his face.

"I'm in." The Iron Dragonslayer answered after a moment.

1.

"Now can you tell me what we're looking for?" The dragonslayer asked between bites, still munching on his element as they sat in the train car. Their destination required a 10 hour train ride, and although neither dragonslayer was motion sick like Natsu, they both disliked the boring transportation.

"Soon after meeting Natsu and learning that he was searching for Igneel, I put the word out for leads on dragon sightings."

"Shit, we're going on a dragon hunt? Do you know what happened last time we got a lead like that?" He asked, groaning at the last time he heard about a 'lead' on dragon sightings.

"I know, the artificial dragon that Natsu was kidnapped to power."

"Not to mention our most recent encounter with an actual dragon." Lily brought up.

"You're not chicken, are you?" Kasai asked, knowing the wizard too well.

"Of course not." He defended, glaring at the red head but suddenly rethinking his attendance.

"We couldn't defeat one dragon with the strongest wizards helping us, including you. How do you expect the three of us to take one down?" Lily asked, obviously against this mission that Gajeel had agreed to.

"I'm not planning to defeat it. I'm planning to talk to it."

"'Talk to it'?" Both of them asked, not expecting that response.

"I have an arsenal of spells that can get us out of there in an instant if the dragon ends up being evil. On the off chance that it's a nice dragon that is willing to tell us what happened to the other dragons, we could end up finding where the other dragons are… including Igneel, and the dragon that trained you."

"Then why the hell do you want us there?" Gajeel asked.

"And why didn't you use this 'arsenal' when we were on the island?" Lily added.

"I couldn't use my teleportation or other helpful spells because the group was too big. With a smaller group, I can get us out of there as a last resort. The spell is too powerful to use more than once, at most twice." She said, first answering the cat's question.

"That doesn't answer _my_ question." Gajeel asked, biting down on a nail and causing it to break between his teeth. His eyes, furrowed and locked on hers, didn't intimidate her as much as he would have liked. Unlike the other members of Fairy Tale, she seemed unusually calm around him.

"I wouldn't take anyone other than a dragonslayer on this mission." She answered simply. "Quite frankly, I'm cocky when it comes to spells, but I'm not stupid enough to try and have a conversation with a dragon without back up. There's also the chance that we'll encounter other wizards there, and any wizard that is willing to encounter a dragon-"

"Will be strong." Gajeel finished, deciding to lean back and relax for once. "Since Edolas, I haven't been able to find a challenging fight."

"Since we're traveling together, you should know something." She spoke, only bringing up the topic since he seemed dedicated to finishing the mission. "The Blood Guild has been sending reanimated corpses to fight me. Some of them, when they can't win a fight, will self-detonate to take out their opponents."

"Corpses?" Both of them asked.

"I don't know the details of the magic yet, but the corpses retain their magic and fighting knowledge from before the wizard's death. If you have to fight one of them, fight to kill." Kasai spoke, looking between both of them, but her gaze landing on Gajeel. "They use lost magic, and will fight dirty. One mistake and you're dead."

"Man, you're a lot less boring than I thought." He said with a chuckle.

"You thought I was boring before?"

"Well, yeah. Compared to Natsu you're pretty quiet, reading books all the time, and other than a bunch of secret magic, you're pretty boring." He said, causing her to break out laughing.

2.

"Did your source say that there was going to be a _military base_ here?!" Gajeel asked, in between his cat and Kasai on a cliff, overlooking a forest with a huge military case. There was one massive oval building, almost like a covered baseball stadium, with military signs covering a fence surrounding it. Jeeps, with military insignia, drove around the outside within the fence.

They were all on their bellies, trying to stay low and out of sight, but were in the perfect spot for surveying; their hands were either folded in front of them or holding binoculars to their face. The red head had a pair of binoculars attached to her face. They could see _everything_ from their spot.

"Not in so many words…" She said vaguely, a smirk on her face.

Suddenly, they felt the ground beneath them rumble, and could hear the roar of a dragon somewhere in the area, but it sounded muffled and drowned out, possibly by hundreds of feet of dirt below the base. "Sounds like we're in the right place." Lily commented.

"Those aren't military." Kasai said, her smile falling, causing both of them to look at her. "If you look close, most of them have the Blood Guild insignia on them."

"Seriously? All of that is just a stupid Guild?" Gajeel asked, and when she offered the binoculars, he hastily used them to look for himself.

"The same Guild that has been sending zombies after you?" The cat asked, his eye twitching.

"One and the same. You guys can go home if you want, but I have to check this out. I've got some personal beef with these guys."

"Tch, no way am I letting you go in there alone. If anything happened, Natsu would kill me. Well, try. Actually, the entire guild would probably be mad…."

"As you wish. What about you, Lily? You could set up camp and wait for us, if you wanted. It would actually be really useful to have-"

"And let you guys go in there alone?" The black cat cut off, insulted by the idea of being left behind.

"I have a very powerful protection spell, should any of us get caught in a jam and need it. Levy helped me design it. If either of you are significantly injured, I'll set up the spell around you, and nothing will be able to get in. Once you leave it, though, you'll be fair game."

3.

"Can we go yet? I want to smash some heads." Gajeel asked, leaning against a tree nearby and watching the red head continue reading strange symbols and writing them down in her notebook. "Did you say we were on a time table?"

Kasai, slightly annoyed at the interruption, looked over at him. "Do you have any idea how awesome this is?" She asked, taking his mere shrug as a 'no'. "Because this magic is so new, very few people know about it, nonetheless how to hack it or defend it properly. I only have a basic understanding from a member of the Pegasus Guild, but I've managed to access the files of their lead scientist."

"Can't we just smash our way through?"

"Not if you want to live." She snorted, looking back at the magical screen floating in front of her. "This isn't the kind of guild you want to go running head first into. They've booby trapped the entire complex and have an arsenal of dead people they can summon like celestial spirits."

"Booby traps, huh?" The man asked, his gaze moving to the branches above him.

"If I wasn't a blood magic user, we would have been detected by now and had the magic instantly sucked out of us. There's tons of various magic traps that I'm finding in my research." She explained, causing the wizard to nod.

"So how are you accessing that?" Lily asked from her lap, curled up between her legs and enjoying the warmth. When in Edolas, he would curl up on his human friend's lap all the time, but since he came to Earth had missed the human contact.

"This magic is so new, that the scientist using it hasn't bothered to make any protocols protecting it yet. It's so complex that mostly military or other high ranking wizards, or some doctors, have access to it."

"Wait, you could hack the military?" Gajeel asked, causing her to chuckle.

"Theoretically. Depends on their defenses for it… it's basically a library of information stored in another dimension. Simply accessing that information and translating it isn't that difficult once you get the hang of it. I had to translate and encrypt so many books as a child that it came easily to me."

"… just hurry up. I'm going to take a nap." Gajeel stated, resting against the tree and sighing.

"Like I told you earlier, keep your guard up. If they figure out that I'm doing this, they could-"

"Yeah, yeah." He waved off.

Subconsciously, Kasai reached her spare hand to Lily and scratched behind his ear, causing him to purr.

4.

"Shit." She muttered, grabbing her head and entangling her fingers in her short hair as she fell back, her back falling flush against the grassy ground. Above her, stars shined brightly against the dark sky, sparkling magnificently at them. Nearby in the darkness, the dragonslayer stirred.

"Are you done yet?" He asked, noticing that Lily was still asleep in the woman's lap, despite her lying back.

"I've just skimmed the dissection reports of over 100 people…. Innocent people." She added, her eyes closing. "It's a lot of death, a lot of torture…"

There was a silence between them for a moment. The metal faced man staring at her, while she stared up at the stars, a troubling expression on her face.

"I need a minute to process everything." She said softly.

"Never thought that cat would so comfortable between a girl's legs." Gajeel said, suddenly, and surprised when the red head started laughing. She tried to keep her laughter quiet, but accidentally woke the sleeping cat, causing him to glare at her.

"Are we under attack?" Lily asked, confused and looking between the two of them, only able to see minimal glimmers of the metal on the dragonslayer's face and outfit.

"We're fine. It seems that Kasai has a sense of humor, though." Gajeel asked, watching her body move up and down with laughter, a weird sense of satisfaction at having made her react so strongly.

Lily moved to stand between them, still not full awake, but waited for Kasai to calm down.

"I need that." She said after a few minutes, smiling up at the sky. "The dragon is trapped, as we thought, but is heavily sedated. They've been draining his blood for days."

"Why the hell would they do that?"

"It's a blood dragon… they're making an artificial blood dragon, and using a mix of blood from an actual dragon along with the blood of innocent villagers they kidnapped and slaughtered. The fighters they keep as their… ghost spirits? They don't have a good word for it. Anyway-"

"Wait, they're making a dragon? Like the other crazy lady that kidnapped Natsu?" Gajeel asked, arms crossed, and still staring at the woman. She was currently covered head to toe in black garments, making her blend into the night.

"Exactly. They even used her notes to construct it." She explained, still keeping her eyes on the crescent moon hanging above them. "They're creating it to use as a weapon of mass destruction. If they complete it, they could take out an entire country." The red head explained, trying to think about the situation as black and white as possible.

"An entire country?" Lily repeatedly, his eyes furrowed in seriousness and arms folded across his chest.

"Yes. Which means-"

"We need to destroy it before they finish it." Gajeel finished, causing her to nod.

"Judging by your expression, that's not all that you found out." Lily commented, noting that she refused to look at them. If it wasn't so dark, he would have seen the tears pouring from her eyes.

"I can't think about that now. We need to focus on ways to destroy the artificial dragon and release the real one." She told them, taking a deep breath and keeping her eyes occupied on the sky.

"You said that they have him sedated?" Lily asked.

"Yes. At this point, if we just released him, he wouldn't be able to go anywhere. We need to get the drugs out of his system." She explained, and suddenly sat up, her legs folded and gaze focusing on the cat. "Once he's clear headed enough, we need to somehow get him out of there and then destroy the research facility."

"Which is where I come in." Gajeel said, smirking and moving to stand, approaching the two. "Just tell me where to hit, and we'll leave that place a pile of rubble."

5.

The three wizards, all decked out in black (with masks, provided by Kasai), snuck onto the base with little resistance. They almost got caught by a security guard as they walked among the shadows of several still vehicles, but luckily, to Kasai's fascination, most of the guards had poor eye sight. A side effect of using mostly zombies for guards.

In her research, she found out that most of the people in the Blood Guild aren't actually alive, but instead has a ratio of 1:6 alive to dead. They had similar facilities around the country, equally spread out in terms of staff, and used the corpses to make them seem like more of a presence than they were.

Although they had improved the reanimation process over the past 7 years and made the 'ghost spirits' able to handle multiple commands, they were still limited in what they could do. In a face-to-face fight they could fight as strong as they had been alive, but their intelligence was decreased and senses dulled.

Once they reached the facility, they found that the inside was much larger than it looked on the outside.

The outside was a dome, and on the inside, it continued down several hundred feet at least. Mostly concrete, the wall was lined with staircases while the center was mostly empty space, ominously vast and misty.

Lily managed, somehow, to fly to the center carrying both of them (Lily held Gajeel, who held Kasai's hands) and slowly lowered them down the deep crevice.

Most of the lights were dim and on the rim of the tunnel going down, making the center an ample place for them to descend without being noticed. Once they got close enough to the bottom that they could see the dragon, they turned and went to one of the level ledges on the side, carved out of the wall.

Below them, some 20 feet, one scientist busied himself with taking notes on the appearance of the dragon. On the visible ground floor that the dragon slept, doors lined the edges, totaling to about 30 different hallways and rooms. The tubes leading in and out of the sleeping dragon disappeared into holes in the floor, where most of the equipment monitoring and supplying the drugs were stored.

There were warning signs on the walls, advising personnel to be quiet.

"See that yellow tube?" Kasai whispered, pointing to a specific tube sticking out of the dragon's neck, looking to be about two feet long. They nodded. "That's most of the drugs. It'll take about an hour for it to clear his system once it has been removed."

"This place stinks." Gajeel whined, wishing that he could pinch his nose.

"The artificial dragon should be underneath this floor. I have no idea how many people will be there." She admitted.

"What are all the other tubes for?" Lily asked.

"Blood to fill the artificial dragon. The blue tube should be nutrients to keep it alive." She explained, and they nodded.

The scientist below them was oblivious to their presence. After another minute of taking notes and doodling, he disappeared down a staircase that led to the room below them. "Treating a dragon this way…" Gajeel muttered, staring at the disgusting dragon before them, who was bloody and beaten. He was tied down, at least 50 tubes sticking out of him, and filled the entirety of the room. The space was too small for him, his tail having to fold over his legs and head squished against the wall.

The dragon was massive, the size of a building, and the three wizards couldn't help but stare at him for a moment.

When they eventually made their way down to the main floor, keeping to the shadows when they could, they were surprised by the massive number of people. In order to avoid detection, they found a secluded bunch of boulders on the side of the room to jump behind.

The room, slightly bigger than the width of the one above them, was basically a huge cave. Kasai and Gajeel both wondered if this was the home of the dragon before the Guild moved in.

In the center was the artificial dragon, appearing even larger than the dragon above them, but similar in design to the dragon Natsu was tricked into powering once. It was pure black, twice as many tubes sticking out of it as the real dragon, and looking just as dead and beaten. It looked slightly deflated, as if they were filling it up with air.

It was surrounded by scientists, and the perimeter was lined with dead guards. Some of whom Kasai recognized.

'I can't think about that.' The red head scolded herself mentally, trying not to focus on her dead friends lining the wall.

"Well?" Gajeel asked, noticing the sudden fear and hesitance in the other wizard, her body trembling just slightly. "You're not scared, are you?" He sneered, using her own persuasive technique against her.

She took a deep breath, refocusing her attention to the center of the room, trying to calm her nerves. Off to the side of the inanimate dragon, were two giant tanks, both of which were made from clear plastic. In one, blue liquid. In the other, yellow liquid. Tubes stuck out of both of them, led to the edge of the room, and went up into the ceiling to reconnect to the dragon.

"Blood magic: slither," She whispered, putting her hands together and causing a small amount of blood to slip out of her forearm, and like a snake, slither from their position towards the yellow tank. "Keep your guards up." She reminded them, causing them to nod. "And stick to the plan."

"Yes ma'am." Gajeel whispered, closer than she had expected. The dark-haired male was almost directly behind her, looking over her shoulder, and watching her small creature slither away towards their enemies. His breath grazed her neck, causing her to tense slightly.

Slowly, carefully, her blood magic twisted the base of the tube inside and out, eating away at the metal. A similar blood snake was busying itself with cutting away the yellow tube on the dragon's end.

The scientists, too preoccupied with either chatting or taking notes, didn't notice until the latch was officially broken and leaking fluid. The yellow slime oozed in every direction, the tube emptying its contents all over the floor in a more rapid rate.

"No, no, no! Replace it immediately, we can't afford the dragon to wake up!" The scientists panicked, quickly trying to stop the tube from emptying and trying to cover the broken hole in the tank with little success. By the time they thought of putting the tube in the other tank and contaminating the nutrients, it was already empty.

"We have thirty minutes to get the back up hooked in!" Another scientist yelled, scrambling to get more supplies from a room upstairs.

The undead guards, dressed in military uniform, remained motionless.

"God damnit, not again! It's blood magic. One of the guards isn't working properly."

"It doesn't matter now, just get it back up!"

6.

About half an hour later they managed to get another tank hooked up, but when they tried to make it work, Kasai used the same magic to disable it.

"This is easier than I thought it would be." Lily whispered, watching the scientists scramble and run around panicking. Many were talking about evacuating.

The roof rumbled, slightly, and a layer of dust fell on them.

"Guards, kill the dragon!" The lead scientist, a man with deep blond hair, yelled at the surrounding spirits.

"You jinxed it, Lily." Kasai joked.

" _Now_ we can fight?"

"Yes. We can't let-" Kasai spoke, but the dragonslayer was gone as soon as she said 'yes'.

He leaped into the air, his Iron Dragonslayer Magic in action, and began causing as much destruction as he could.

Kasai jumped onto the boulder they had been hiding behind, her body encased in flames and back hunched over as she let her fist rest against the cold surface. She grinned, watching the destruction and her potential opponents dodging his attacks. "This is my kind of fight."

7.

The scientists managed to evacuate in the chaos and the group of Fairy Tale wizards defeated all of the dead wizards with ease.

The ceiling rumbled, the walls shook.

They heard a roar, and it echoed against the walls with a ferocity that caused several lights to fall and smash to the ground. The tubes that had been transferring his blood seemed to come to life, and with a gruesome anger, managed to rip apart the superficial dragon from the inside out using its own blood.

"Holy shit." Gajeel yelled, watching the massive red forms shift from solid to liquid while flying around the room in a whirlwind of death.

"Get down!" Kasai yelled, tackling him to the ground just before a giant blade of blood magic could slice him in half. "We've got to go!" She yelled at Lily mid crouch, hesitant to stand while fragments of dragon blood flew dangerously around them.

"I agree!" The cat yelled, putting his sword away as he ran towards them, hallways across the massive room and dodging attack after attack.

"Whoever did this to me shall pay!" A booming voice yelled from above them, and caused the entire room to rumble and shake. It caused Lily to trip and fall, barely missing a giant piece of concrete that landed a couple feet to his side.

"We're the ones that freed you!" Gajeel yelled at the ceiling, and his words caused Kasai to freeze, her eyes frozen on Lily. The cat looked at her just as terrified. "We wanted to ask you a question!"

The red head, against her wishes, looked up at the blood dragon above them, staring at them from the ceiling. His head was peeking through a hole in the ceiling, and its very, very large blood red eyes stared at them with a veracity that made Kasai tremble again.

" _You_ freed me? You expect me to believe that, pathetic humans?" The deep, loud voice echoed against the walls of the room, shaking them to their core. "I recognize your blood, _female_. You are related to the fire dragonslayer that works for them. I am not easily fooled."

"Do you know Igneel?!" She yelled up at him, suddenly jumping into a stand.

The dragon chuckled.

"Someone very close to me misses him, and I told him I would do anything to help him locate the dragon!" She yelled, suddenly gathering the courage to talk to the massive, pissed off dragon that loomed above them.

More of the ceiling cracked. Several more pieces fell, and Lily was woken from his stupor and ran towards his friends.

The dragon broke more of the ground with his tail, and managed to slither out into the main room.

Lily stood between the two Dragonslayers in his smaller cat form, hoping that they knew what they were doing, and watching the large dragon stumbled to the ground. His massive body took up most of the room and his gaze never left the three wizards.

"I will kill you all, slowly and painfully."

"We just freed you!" Gajeel yelled, pissed off, and pointing his hand at him. "You owe us, you stupid dragon!"

"I owe you nothing, stupid human." The dragon roared at them, causing them to fall back from the wind and land on the gravel behind them.

Kasai immediately stood up again, and took a few steps towards him. "You need to destroy this facility now, before they come back, or else they'll come back with reinforcements! These people have murdered my friends and used my family as puppets for their twisted amusement!"

"I will do what I wish!" He roared, causing her to fall back again, but this time send large bodies of sharp weapons hurtling towards them.

As she fell back, she twisted her body so that she would only fall on one knee and skid to a stop using her other foot to regain her balance, and cast her teleportation spell. Grabbing her companions, they disappeared just as an assortment of weapons descended on them, narrowly avoiding death.

They reappeared back at the ledge they initially used to survey the camp, each of them exhausted from the battle.

"We need to get out of here." Kasai told them, breathing hard and trying to compensate for the large amount of magic she just used.

Behind her, she heard the dome exploding open, and a mix of concrete and dirt flying in every direction.

8.

After walking a few miles, Gajeel carrying both Lily and Kasai for most of the way, they decided to make camp for the rest of the night.

They made a small fire, and even after laying out their sleeping bags and getting ready to sleep, none of them could drift into slumber land. Each wizard quietly gazed at the fire, too tired to speak, but also too wired from the recent events to sleep.

After an hour of just laying there, Kasai finally sat up, using her sleeping bag as a blanket as she turned and faced the fire. "So what did you guys think of our first mission together?" She asked, knowing that they were still awake.

"It was okay… I guess." Gajeel replied, mimicking her movements and sitting cross-legged with his sleeping bag over his shoulders.

"We nearly escape the clutches of a pissed off Blood Dragon and you think it was just 'okay'?"

"Alright, fine, I admit it. It was pretty cool. There were some strong wizards to fight, and I didn't have to worry about killing them, since they were already dead. Plus we got to do the whole 'ninja' thing." He said, blushing slightly at her happy expression. "We're not getting paid, though, which is a bummer. I need to pay rent, ya know.

"The last mission we did paid so well, you don't need to worry about rent for another year." Lily commented, causing the dragonslayer to glare at him.

"Maybe we can do more jobs together in the future. It was pretty fun watching your iron magic."

"Tch, yeah right." He replied, causing her to tilt her head to the side, confused by the response. "Don't think I didn't notice you using, like, 50 different kinds of magic out there. You didn't even break a sweat, did you?"

She blinked, pausing for a moment, and then grinned awkwardly. "You caught that, huh? I thought it was a good opportunity to practice some new spells I've been learning. Gray has been teaching me Ice Make Magic, and I've been applying the concept to a variety of different elements with interesting results."

"It took me most of my life just to learn Iron magic." Gajeel commented, and Lily had a similar response.

"I just have a knack for it."

"Why are you dating Natsu? If you're smart enough to learn all this stuff, why date such an idiot?" He asked, causing her to chuckle.

"He makes me smile." She said with a shrug.

"Conversation with him must be dull. I can barely stand being around him without punching his face in."

"Fighting, or sparring, is our favorite activity." She admitted, her gaze going back to the fire. He didn't seem convinced, but didn't care enough to continue the topic. "So you were trained by a dragon?" She asked after a moment.

He crossed his arms, staring at the fire like her. "Yeah…. But he left one day, without saying anything."

"Do you miss him?"

"Pfffft, no. He ditched me. He can go screw himself."

"Would it change anything if it turned out he died?" She asked, no malice in her voice, just curiosity as she watched the small flames dance before them.

He looked at her, wondering if she knew something he didn't, but answered nonetheless. "I dunno… I guess I would feel a little bad."

"Everyone has their reasons for doing things, whether it's right or wrong, good or evil…." She rambled, her voice drifting off, back hunched over and eyes turning sad. "Why did you join Fairy Tale?" The red head asked suddenly, looking up at him.

"I needed work. Juvia put in a good word for me." He answered simply, causing an awkward silence to follow.

"Fairy Tale is filled with strange people, but I like it so far." Lily spoke up, causing them to look at him. "They're violent, but a nice and kind people."

1.

Retelling the events of their 'mission' took longer than she had anticipated. Kasai did most of the talking to both Makarov and the new Guild Master, but Gajeel and Lily would sometimes add in little details of their adventure. A lot of the information was new to her wizard companions, both the dragonslayer and cat surprised at the gory details she hadn't bothered to mention during their trip.

She had a theory that the Edolas version of herself was one of the lead scientists, since the style of the notes she had found were coded in eerily similar ways to her own notes. Kasai was thankful that she had burned her notes, since cracking them wouldn't have been difficult for her counter-part.

She was drained afterwards, emotionally and physically, and found herself walking home alone.

On her way home, standing in front of their home, Natsu was waiting.

His pink hair, unmistakable, swayed slightly with the breeze.

His arms were crossed, and she couldn't see her eyes. He was unusually stiff, standing in the middle of the path without a greeting or usual smile. "Natsu?"

"I'm sorry." He said, the tone of his voice making her stop in her tracks. They were only a few feet away from each other. Happy was no where to be seen. "We're through."

"What?"

"I'm breaking up with you."

The words stabbed at her chest.

She blinked several times, staring at the pink-haired man with wide brown eyes, trying to comprehend his words. "Why?"

"We're through." He said, and turned, but she ran forward and grabbed his hand.

He pulled away.

"Good bye."

"At least tell me why!" She demanded, grabbing his shoulder and keeping him still. "Why!?" She croaked, feeling the tears once again begin pouring from her eyes.

"Sorry." He repeated, and stepped out of her grasp.

"Natsu…." She whimpered, trying to reach for him again, but he was too far away, already going back to his house.

Kasai was left in the cold, shaking, trying to comprehend what just happened.

2.

"I'm taking this one." Kasai told Mirajane first thing the next morning, an s-class mission flyer in her hand. The pathetic drawing of a large demon terrorizing a city covered the majority of it, with a description and reward amount at the bottom.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" The woman asked, looking at her friend with worried eyes.

"Nope. Nothing that killing a giant demon can't cure." Kasai replied, harshness in her voice, and coldness that Mirajane had never heard from her before.

"I heard that your mission with Gajeel-" She tried to speak, but the red head just walked away, not bothering to listen or say goodbye. The flyer crumpled in her hand as she walked.

A familiar dragonslayer bumped her shoulder by the entrance of the Guild, but she just kept walking, not bothering to apologize or acknowledge them.

"What's her deal?" Gajeel asked Mira, surprised by the cold shoulder.

"Would you go with her? She just accepted an s-ranked mission, but she doesn't seem to be herself." Mirajane asked, not surprised that the mention of 's-rank' got his attention.

"You're okay with me going on an s-ranked mission?" He asked, surprised.

"If Kasai is with you." She said, and at the mention of the fire woman, he ran out of the Guild Hall, trying to catch up to her before she got too far.

"Hey! Slow down!" He yelled, running to catch her, Lily flying close behind.

The red head didn't bother looking back, her dark eyes focused on the road ahead of her, brain racing on how to approach the job. When the reckless Dragonslayer pulled on her arm and jolted her out of her thoughts, she glared at him. "What?" She snapped, causing him to freeze up.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" Lily asked, noticing the bags under her eyes and unusual temper.

"Natsu broke up with me, so I didn't have a place to sleep. I've been waiting for the Guild Hall to open so that I could get a job."

"Natsu broke up with you? … Don't girls usually cry and eat ice cream when they get dumped?"

"I like to punch things." She replied.

"Sweet. I'm in. What's the mission?" He asked, causing her to grunt and start walking again.

3.

"We won't arrive for another 4 hours. Why don't you get some sleep." Gajeel suggested, once again finding himself on a train with her and Lily. This time, the train was relatively busy, so they weren't on their own like before.

"Not tired." She replied, her blood shot eyes glaring at him briefly before staring out the window again.

"You look like shit and you're crabby. You're going to be dead weight on this job, again, if you don't get some damn sleep." He said, referring to Edolas when she got motion sick and did nothing but throw up the entire time. Although he didn't mention it, he could also hear her heartbeat, and it was uncharacteristically high for her. Given the amount of meditation she did on their last trip, he was surprised to hear it so out of control.

"Can I sit here?" A random stranger asked as he pointed to the empty seat next to her, and she growled at him, causing him to scream and run off. She took her jacket off and set it on the chair, hugging her back pack on her lap.

"Mind if I sleep on your lap again?" Panther Lily asked, causing her harsh gaze to meet his.

"Sit on his lap if you're so damn lonely."

"Stop being an ass hole and just sleep, Kasai. Unless you want me to punch your lights out for you." Gajeel threatened, pretending to not be afraid of her terrifying stare. She was almost as bad as Erza, and it took all his strength to keep his composure.

"Whatever." She simply muttered, her gaze moving back to the window.

After a few minutes of silence, Kasai stubbornly keeping her eyes locked on the outside world despite sleep trying to take hold of her. Sleep felt more like the cold hand of death reaching up and grabbing her heart with its cold dead fingers.

"Did he tell you why he dumped you?" Gajeel suddenly asked after a while, getting a nudge and glare from Lily next to him.

"You could be a little nicer about it. She's obviously upset."

"He wouldn't tell me why. He just stood there. Said we were through." She said softly, hugging her backpack tightly. No tears met her eyes. "No reason."

"Well, he's an ass hole. He can go fuck himself." Gajeel said, surprising her and causing her gaze to meet his again. "A wizard that dumps a moderately attractive girl who likes fighting and magic is an idiot."

She chuckled, but it came out as a weird cracked giggle.

"Would you mind watching your language? My children can hear you." A woman asked behind Kasai, causing a smile to reach the red head to smile at Gajeel's awkward expression.

"Screw your kids, I can say what I want _where_ I want." He replied, and suddenly Kasai cracked up laughing, causing the older woman to 'humph' and turn back to her seat. The young wizard's laugh was loud, hollow, and after a while quieted down to strange giggles as she clutched her pack and tried to calm down. She buried her face in the familiar leather, the scratchy texture rubbing awkwardly against her skin.

After a while, she took a deep breath, and sat up straight.

"You're weird when you're sleep deprived." Gajeel commented, watching her try to suppress the giggles that threatened to bubble to the surface.

"I've heard that 24 hours without sleep is like a shot of whiskey." Lily told him.

"Well that explains a lot." The dark-haired boy commented, crossing his arms and closing his eyes. The grotesque smells and sounds in the train car prevented him from getting any sleep, but it at least gave him a small break from the giggling girl sitting across from him. After 10 or so minutes, he opened his eyes again to find the dragonslayer writing in a notebook.

His dark, steely eyes watched her, noticing that she seemed entranced in whatever she was doing.

"What are you writing?" He asked, causing her to suddenly look up from her notes, annoyed by the interruption. Her legs were now criss-crossed on the seat, using part of the seat next to her for more knee room.

"Makarov suggested I try creating my own spells. I've been working on a tree one to use on Kiken when I find him." She explained, causing his eyebrows to furrow.

"Creating a spell?" He asked, causing her to nod.

"I stumbled across a book for lost tree magic at a book store fairly recently, it was fascinating… so I've been playing with the idea of using it. It's a fun challenge."

"Tree magic, huh?" He asked, causing her to nod. "You really do look like crap right now."

"Lucky me, I don't have to look at my face. And neither do you." She said, and stuck her tongue out at him before going back to her notes.

"I don't think I've ever seen you this… aggravated before. It's kind of funny."

"You know what's also fun? Fucking off." She told him, glaring when he just laughed at her instead.

4.

"If you had just slept on the train like I told you, we wouldn't need to rent a motel room just so you could take a nap." Gajeel told her, glaring as they made their way to their shared room.

"It's not like we're paying extra money for getting here early. According to the flyer, we're not even supposed to talk to the mayor until the day after tomorrow. We're two days early." She told him, kicking the side of his shin as they neared the room.

"What the hell was that for?"

"For being annoying."

"I'm going to go grab a bite to eat. Do either of you two want anything?" Lily asked, interrupting the two. They had all made it to the door of their room, Gajeel about to go inside, when the cat brought up the subject.

"Yeah. Bring me back whatever. I'll pay you back when you return." The dark-haired wizard stated, and then they looked at the young girl staring off into space. "Do you want anything to eat, princess?" His voice brought her out of her non-existent thoughts, and she glared at the nickname.

"Bite me." She replied, and walked into the room. Her body flopped onto the twin bed, bouncing from her weight, and fell to sleep almost immediately. She didn't even bother getting under the covers or taking her pack off.

"What a dump." Gajeel commented, looking around the small room. His eyes instantly landed on the various bugs on the walls, crusty carpet, and stained curtains strewn across the window. Not to mention the faint smell of urine and vomit.

He turned to ask Lily to stay instead, so that he could go get the food, but the cat had already flown away. Not wanting to leave the unstable girl alone, he sighed, and plopped himself down on the other bed. An ugly shade of yellow taunted him from the ceiling, making him close his eyes after placing his hands under his head. Even with his eyes closed, he knew that color was there, along with the faded disgusting green squares on the walls.

He also realized, with an annoyed sigh, that in his haste to catch up with the girl, he'd left his stuff at home.

Controlled, slow breathing. Breathe in, breathe out. Imagine all troubles washing away….

Gajeel tried to meditate, and eventually fell asleep, ignoring the labored breathing of his companion. As he began falling asleep, Kasai found herself startled and awake, heart racing and unable to sleep.

About an hour later, he woke up to find Panther Lily and Kasai eating pizza on her bed, speaking in hushed voices about various topics. "What the hell? You're supposed to be sleeping." Gajeel accused. "And is that my food?"

"Relax, your pizza is on the table over there. I got extra in case Kasai changed her mind and wanted some." The black cat explained.

"Can't sleep." The red head commented, answering his question about her sleeping.

"'Can't sleep' my ass. You were out as soon as we got here. What the hell?"

"Why are you so concerned about my sleeping habits?" She asked pointedly, glaring at him.

"Well, it would be nice if my teammate didn't die of a freaking heart attack before we got back." The man pointed out, referring to her crazy fast heart rate. Since he had heightened hearing, he could hear both her and Lily's heart rates, and hers was through the roof. For whatever reason, she was burning through adrenaline like crazy, and the idea of her passing out in the middle of a fight annoyed him. "And Mirajane asked me to look after you." He added. "She wouldn't let me perform any more if you died on my watch."

"I'm capable of handling this mission on my own. Mirajane had no right to assign this job to you."

"Woah, hey, let's calm down, everyone." Panther Lily finally interrupted, physically stepping between them. "There's no need to get worked up over this. Maybe after settling in for a while and having a full belly, you can try sleeping again."

"I guess…" She muttered, and went back to her pizza, taking a bite out of it.

"What? You're going to listen to him but not me?"

"He doesn't sound like an ass hole he opens his mouth." She said coldly, causing the Iron Dragonslayer to growl, his fists clenched.

"You lookin for a fight?"

"Gajeel, just shut up and eat some food." Panther Lily told him, causing the man to fold his arms over his chest and glare at him.

"You're taking her side?"

"I think she's heartbroken and exhausted. What's your excuse?" Lily asked, causing him to grumble and fall silent.

For the rest of the day, her heart beat was unnaturally fast and erratic, bothering him more than it should have. Something about it just irked him, like a woodpecker constantly pecking at his skin, or an annoying ticking clock.

That night, she didn't sleep. Gajeel did get some sleep, but that annoying heartbeat turned into a weird nightmare, and he found himself becoming oddly obsessed with it. In his dream, the sound became louder, and louder, and he found that the faster it was, the more intense and surreal his dreams became, filled with monsters and creatures only his dark mind could conjure.

Their second day there, Lily and Kasai went for a walk on the town, while Gajeel decided to stay behind. Even without her there, the crazed sound still echoed in his dreams, and ended up exploring the strange town as well.

5.

Gajeel woke up at 1 AM, hearing the floor squeak as someone stepped on it.

He sat up, squinting his eyes in the darkness, and eventually made out the form of his new team mate, Kasai. She was doing some weird movements, slowly moving her body in various formations, and breathing slowly. Her heart beat was erratic, _still_ , and it was driving him nuts.

He was going to snap soon.

"Go. To. Sleep." Gajeel growled at her, causing her to nearly jump out of her skin.

"… I woke up." She said meekly, staring at him in the darkness. He looked ominous and creepy with the lights out, his hair wild and eyes looming at her like a demented animal. Her heart rate increased.

The sound was louder now. It was annoying as hell, and he just wanted the unnatural sound to _slow the fuck down_.

"Then go back to sleep." He growled.

" _You_ go back to sleep." She retorted, going back to her gentle and graceful movements that she had done before.

He growled, again, pulling the sheets away from his body and jumping to his feet. The sudden movement caused her to accidentally bump into a table, knocking something to the ground. It was too dark for either of them to see what it was. The man grabbed her by the arms, tossed her onto her bed, and when she tried to get off the mattress and back to her feet, he laid down on her bed and simultaneously grabbed the back of her shirt, pulling her back down.

Her body bounced on the bed before it slammed into him, the force comparable to their training exercises.

Just before she could yell at him, he put one hand on her mouth and the other around her waist, pressing her against him to keep her still. In order to keep her legs still, he wrapped his own around them, and made sure that his arm around his waist also pinned down her arms. "Sleep." He ordered, hating the abominable sound racing in her chest.

She struggled a little, but to his surprise, gave up quickly. Whether he was physically stronger or she was just tired, he had no idea, but was relieved when she relaxed against him. Her body was unnaturally warm. The dark-haired man knew that if she really wanted to get out of his grip, the little wizard could probably kill him without lifting a finger. With normal girls he would have restrained himself in terms of his strength, but he had seen her fight, and knew she was strong. He didn't bother holding back.

He just wanted her damn heart rate to slow down. He didn't know why it bothered him, but it did, and it was driving him nuts.

To his surprise, his restraining worked.

Her heart rate slowed.

Now that he thought about it, she'd mentioned that fighting was her way of dealing with her stress with breakups. Maybe she would be fine if they sparred tomorrow.

After a while of getting lost in his thoughts, he realized with further amazement, that she was asleep.

The scent of her fire magic met his nose, and although it usually bugged him on Natsu, it was surprisingly nice coming from her. Her short red hair tickled his face, causing him to move slightly to avoid it.

Her heart was beating normally for the first time in the past two days.

He began to relax.

Sometime later, maybe a half hour, he was drifting off to sleep, when he heard that damn woodpecker sound again.

Her breathing was abnormal.

Suddenly, he realized why she wasn't getting sleep, and he felt like an idiot for not realizing it sooner.

'She can't sleep because she keeps waking up from nightmares, not because she's being stubborn. Natsu probably knew how to handle her when she woke up with them, and since he's not here…' He thought to himself, quietly contemplating how to handle the situation.

His grip on her had relaxed considerably since he first pinned her down, to the point that he was barely touching her now. After she had fallen asleep, he had untangled their legs and removed his arm from her mouth, instead only leaving his arm under her because he was too scared to move it.

Hesitantly, hoping this plan wouldn't backfire horribly on him, he wrapped his arms around her and spooned.

Her heart rate slowed.

He cursed in his head, hating the situation he had put himself in.

Strangely, even though it was weird, it was… nice.

The dragonslayers drifted to sleep. Every time her heart rate sped up, he would squeeze her in his arms, causing her nightmares to cease.

6.

"So let me get this straight. Her _beating heart_ bothered you, so you forced her on the bed and cuddled her to sleep? I never thought you were such the romantic, Gajeel." Panther Lily teased, causing the embarrassed Iron Dragonslayer to glare as he chewed at his iron nails. The black cat and Kasai ate their Danishes that the red head had picked up at the bakery next door, who happily sipped at her coffee.

"You better not get used to it, cuz it's not happening again." Gajeel stated, further annoyed at her calm and gentle smile. Even though he was annoyed and embarrassed, he couldn't help but be thankful that she seemed back to her normal self. If they got into trouble on their mission, he wanted her ready to fight.

"Natsu had a similar complaint, actually. It took him a while to get used to."

"So you have nightmares?" Lily asked.

Kasai nodded, gingerly sipping her coffee. "Yes. I've had them since I was little. They didn't get bad until a few months ago, after a particularly creepy mission." She explained. "When I don't get sleep, I get almost constant adrenaline rushes, which cause the increased heart rate you heard."

"So how do you deal with them when you're on your own?" The cat asked between bites.

"If I get on a good sleep schedule, it usually doesn't bother me." She answered simply. "There's not really much I can do for it, other than try to not stress on a day-to-day basis."

"What are your dreams about?"

"A lot of things…" She muttered, eyeing a donut from the box and choosing a jelly filled one. "Dead loved ones rising from the grave, crazy little girls killing people to create an army of poltergeists, crazy ex boyfriends murdering innocent people… oh wait, that's when I'm awake."

"Quit your belly aching. You're not the only one with problems." Gajeel spoke, suddenly getting tired of her voice.

"Well fuck you too, Mr. Ray of Sunshine." She responded, causing him to glare at her. Lily sighed, deciding to stay out of their fight this time.

"The Great Kasai doesn't want to work today because her little boyfriend broke up with her. Boohoo."

"We weren't even talking about him and I never said I didn't want to do the mission. Have you even done any research for it?" She asked pointedly, causing him to blink confused at her.

"Research?"

"Panther Lily and I checked out the places that the demon had attacked last, and talked to a few locals." She said with a smirk, causing his glare to harden.

"I… you haven't even told me the details of the goddamn mission, how can I do research on it!?"

"I'll just leave it to the mayor to explain the details." The red head replied, smiling evilly as she sipped at her drink, uncharacteristically liking his angered face. "You're cute when you're mad."

"You're cute when your face is punched in."

"Oooh, I'm scared."

"You little…" He wanted to punch her, just to prove his point, but the stare from Lily and appetizing nails in his bowl convinced him otherwise. Grumbling under his breath, he went back to his food, trying to calm down and think of something peaceful and serene. "Whatever. Brat."

"Idiot."

7.

"I hope you two can help us." The major spoke from behind his desk, annoyingly slick hair waving back and forth with his movements.

"Three." Panther Lily corrected, standing next to Kasai in his smaller form. "I may seem small now, but I-"

"Yeah whatever." The mayor interrupted, obviously not caring, and making the small cat glare at him. "Every month, on one of three days, a demon rises from the swamp and attacks our city."

"A swamp monster?" Gajeel asked, and he nodded.

"Basically, yes. It grows to ten stories tall and attacks our town. Many people have lost their lives to it." The man said, sadly, looking down at his fidgeting hands on the desk. "Many people have left, fearing the monster. If just one more attack were to occur, the entire town might go bankrupt."

"Don't worry, Mayor Sugi. We'll take this guy down." Kasai assured him, smiling calmly. She was standing up straight, wearing her black slacks and button-down shirt with a vest, looking much more together than the other two at her sides.

"A man, little girl, and cat are going to save this town." The mayor said with a sigh, causing Lily and Kasai to shift their weight uncomfortably and Gajeel to chuckle under his breath.

"Don't worry, sir, we'll take care of it." Gajeel stated, causing the old man to smile a bit, reassured. His mustache swayed from side to side, like a rabbit, and large hair moved as if it had a life of its own. It unnerved all of them a bit. If his appearance wasn't so comical, Lily and Kasai would be offended.

"I've told you all I know. The receptionist has some files on the demon, and can help you with anything else you need. I've already paid your Guild half of the reward money, and when you complete your mission, you'll get the second half." The strange-haired man said, and without further adu, they all left.

Once they left the room, Gajeel got preferred treatment like before, having the receptionist dote on him for potentially saving the town. "So you're going to save the town from that demon?" She asked the rugged looking man, noticing his piercings and cold gaze. His hair was wild looking, although Kasai had learned that he actually put a lot of time and effort into it, and out of the bunch he looked the most 'dangerous'.

"We're a team. We're all going to take him down." Lily told her, but she just giggled, glanced at Gajeel again, and then excused herself to go find the papers that she needed to give them. Apparently whatever they needed was in a storage room on the floor above them.

They stood by the desk awkwardly, waiting for her return, for several seconds before the teasing commenced.

"Please Gajeel, save us!" Kasai mocked, fake pouting with her hands together; he was a good foot taller at her, too, adding to the act. "Save us from the swamp monster!"

"Shut up."

"I do declare, Miss Kasai, that he is our last hope!" Lily spoke, causing the iron dragonslayer's cheeks to flare up.

"Will you guys shut up already?" Gajeel requested, noticing the stares that were suddenly on them. "You're just jealous."

"Did you hear the rumors, Lily?"

"What rumors?"

"Bad boy here is going to save the town!" She whispered to him, knowing full well that he could hear them with his sensitive hearing, and both of them snickering as he glared. All of them silenced when the receptionist returned with a thick folder in her hands, acting like nothing had happened.

"I take it that you guys will be staying for the Halloween festival?" The woman asked, the question directed at Gajeel, while simultaneously putting all the papers she had accumulated in a folder for them.

"Halloween?" Kasai asked, and the brunette nodded.

"You don't know what Halloween is?" Gajeel asked, and she shrugged.

"I know that there's costumes involved, but whenever I asked someone in the past about it, they thought I was joking and didn't answer me." She said, shrugging, and the receptionist gave her a weird look.

"You seriously don't know what Halloween is?"

"I don't either, actually. I grew up in Edolas." Panther Lily added, getting weird stares from both Gajeel and the woman.

"Is this all we need?" Kasai asked, grabbing the folder from her when she tried to give it to Gajeel, and giving a cursory skim through it.

"Yep." She answered awkwardly.

"Thanks." The red head waved, ignoring the peeved expression on her face, and putting the folder in her backpack as she walked away. Gajeel and Lily joined her, glad to exit the weird smelling building.

Once they were on the street again, they started talking about the strange Holiday again. "Halloween is when people dress up in costumes and steal candy from children." Gajeel explained, getting weird looks from his companions.

"That's so cruel!" Lily stated from Kasai's head, sitting comfortably on her soft hair.

"I highly doubt that there's an entire holiday dedicated to adults stealing candy from children." The red head stated, hands in her pockets as they walked down the street towards the edge of town. As she looked closer, she paid more notice to the Halloween signs everywhere, and noticed an increased number of children wearing costumes.

"So when is this demon supposed to attack?" Gajeel asked, already bored with trying to trick them into stealing candy from children. The image still made him smile, though. Crying children were hilarious to him, for some odd reason.

"It happens one of three days, meaning that we're going to have to pull all nighters keeping an eye out for it. It looks like the Halloween festival just barely misses it." She said, noticing a banner above them with the date of the festival. "It looks like the festival will be tonight, and then the next three days will be prime days for the demon to attack."

"Is there a chance that the demon would attack the festival?" Lily asked, albeit slightly distracted by the conversation when he saw two women dressed as black cats walk by.

"I don't think so, but we should attend the festival anyway just in case."

"Does that mean we have to get costumes?" The dark-haired man groaned, a particularly bad memory plaguing his thoughts.

"You're the expert on Halloween. What do you think?" Lily asked, his arms crossed and trying to focus on the two dragonslayers instead of the distracting costumes around them.

They all looked up, suddenly at another banner. It said 'no costume, no service on Halloween! Applies to all stores and services.'.

"… huh."

"Guess that means we have to get costumes." Kasai commented, frowning slightly at the banner.

8.

Kasai was already in costume, going through the papers that the receptionist had given her, when she heard a 'thump' come from the bathroom followed by an annoyed growl.

"Need help?" The red head asked, not surprised when a stubborn 'no!' followed.

After a few more aggravated groans, something breaking, and followed by more yelling, she finally heard the annoyed man make a coherent sentence.

"I'm not going." Gajeel announced, not bothering to open the door.

"Lily and I can take care of the demon on our own." Kasai answered easily, albeit a curious grin on her face. She shared a look with Lily, who was also curious as to why the iron man was suddenly not wanting to go.

"Whatever. I'm not going."

"Come on, Kasai and I are already in costume." Lily said, getting more and more curious about the man's costume. "She's dressed as a black cat, and I'm dressed as a frog. It's only fair that you dress up too."

"The guy gave me the wrong custome." Gajeel said. The red head put down the papers and turned in her seat, facing the closed door.

"Now I have to see it." Kasai stated, much to the man's annoyance.

"No. You guys go without me." Gajeel said, and Kasai exchanged another glance at Lily.

"If you don't come out here and show us the costume, we're going to have to go in there and see it." The fire breather threatened, causing him to panic.

"You try it and I'll kick your ass."

"Two against one." Lily threatened, causing the man to growl angrily at them.

"I… fine." He finally conceded. "But you can't laugh. This isn't the costume I bought."

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Just get your ass out here!" Kasai said hurriedly, her grin ridiculously wide, Lily having a similar grin.

The door clicked.

The knob turned.

Steam exited the small room, apparently still accumulated from when he took his shower, and he stepped out.

Lily and Kasai stared, unable to speak, completely awe struck.

"It doesn't look like the picture, okay!?" Gajeel defended, holding up the picture of a completely different costume. "It was supposed to be a detective outfit."

"That, um…." The red head tried to speak, having to bite down on her lips to keep from bursting out laughing.

Lily couldn't hold it in, and starting cracking up, causing the woman to break out into laughter as well.

"Well, I think I pull it off." Gajeel stated, his face completely red.

"Turn around, please! Show us the whole thing!" Kasai asked him, and to her surprise and happiness, he did.

It definitely wasn't what it said on the box. It was a skimpy prisoner outfit, consisting of orange spandex shorts with two straps going over his shoulders and one strap going down the back, like suspenders. On his butt was the word 'Guilty'.

There were actual handcuffs attached to the side and choker on his neck with a chain attached.

Nothing was left to the imagination.

They were dying of laughter.

"Fuck you guys, I'm wearing this, and all the ladies are going to love it." He said defiantly and crossing his arms over his chest, trying to ignore the laughter coming from them.

In his defense, he was built enough to pull off the look, but the sheer ridiculousness of it made his team mates fall to the ground in laughter.

9.

That night was unusual to say the least. As the trio wandered the streets, they found several men wearing the same costume as him, who assumingly had been jipped by the same store clerk as Gajeel.

Not all of them could pull it off, though. There were several over weight men that caused puking from several individuals.

Kasai usually wasn't one for sexy outfits, and maybe it was her break up with Natsu that made her more inclined to, but she had fun with their outfits. She was wearing a typical black cat costume, albeit less revealing than most of the others, and held the leash attached to Gajeel's neck as they wandered the town.

She wore a black spandex suit, covering her head to toe, and had matching ears and make up, along with a black mask. She'd even bothered to buy gloves that looked like paws.

The city was packed full of people, costume and not-costumed alike, eating food and having fun. The people not wearing costumes were declined services, and forced to buy costumes in order to get food or play any of the games. Some shop owners gave away free stuff if they liked people's costumes enough.

They ended up getting lost at one point, and accidentally ended up in a couples costume contest. "You're not lost, are you?" Gajeel teased, and smirked when she 'humphed' and tried to tug him along in a new direction.

"Of course not. I just wanted to see what was going on here." She answered after a moment, but then suddenly there was a bright light shining on them. It nearly blinded them, and it took a moment to tell what was going on.

"The winners of the couples costume contest is the sexy kitten and her prisoner!" Someone announced, causing them to freeze in place like deer in headlights.

"We didn't enter any-" Gajeel tried to tell them, but was drowned out by the sound of someone talking through massive speakers.

"They win the first place prize, $500!" The announcer continued, causing the pair to pause, look at each other, and shrug. "Come up here and get the reward, you two!"

Kasai smirked, tugging on Gajeel's leash, who had a similar expression. "We should do this more often. Free money."

When they got on stage, several girls (and guys) started swooning in the audience, mostly for Gajeel, whose costume was significantly more revealing than hers. The red head pulled off her costume, and the spandex allowed a good view, but it was hardly as provocative as the other female costumes in the crowd. Gajeel flexed his muscles, gaining a cheer from the crowd, and had fun showing off.

About an hour later, when they were $500 richer, they would up at a taco shop eating burritos. Panther Lily finally caught up to them, having lost them in the crowd several hours ago.

"You guys having fun?" The frog-cat-man asked, standing on the table and looking back and forth between them.

He had lipstick marks all over his costume and face.

"Not as fun as you, it looks like." Kasai commented, the 'couple' laughed, snickered at his embarrassed expression.

"Kasai and I won $500." Gajeel told him, causing the cat to gape at him.

"Seriously? You guys robbed someone?" He asked, and then took one of the nachos from Kasai's plate and sat on the wooden table.

"We won a costume contest." The red head answered, and took another bite of her burrito.

"This is our third free meal, too." Gajeel added. "We should do this every year."

"This has been fun." She commented, actually smiling for the first time in days. It wasn't a crazed or fake smile, it was a genuinely happy smile, and the two guys couldn't help but enjoy the rare sight. "What?" The woman asked, noticing their stares.

"Nothing. So have you guys seen any sign of the demon?" Lily asked, continuing to munch on her nachos.

"Nope." They both replied. "If was attacking tonight, he probably would have done it by now. He usually attacks around 11 PM, and it's almost midnight now."

"What the hell?" Gajeel muttered, causing the pair to look at him, noticing that he suddenly looked uncomfortable and messing with his outfit.

After a moment of awkward shifting, Lily and Kasai looking away to avoid seeing anything they really did not want to see, he eventually held up several pieces of paper with numbers on him.

"I've been getting numbers all night, and I didn't notice?!" He asked, on the verge of tears, causing his teammates to laugh at his expense. "I could be getting laid right now!"

"You had pieces of paper in your crotch and you didn't notice?" Kasai laughed, his red face making her laugh even more.

10.

The next night they found themselves on the edge of town, back in their usual fighting attire, readying for battle. They were on the edge of a mountain overlooking the swamp and in the perfect position to attack if the demon appeared that night. A camp was already set up, a basic fire and shelter prepared.

"So… do we have a plan?" Gajeel asked.

"Beat the living hell out of it?" Kasai said with a shrug, and the man smirked as he punched his palm.

"Finally."

"Be careful, Gajeel. The last people that tried to take this guy down died, and they were pretty powerful wizards." Lily warned, turning into his larger cat self.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He replied, cracking his neck loudly.

Kasai sat on a rock nearby, uncharacteristically quiet, staring off into the distance.

She couldn't help but think of Natsu, and how he would be so excited for this mission.

It would be perfect for them to team up on. Using their fire magic against the demon would the perfect target practice, and the easiness of it, regardless of the danger, would be perfect for him. They could use the combo attacks they had been working on for months, powering each other up with their flames and dually attacking the massive beast.

Perfect.

That word.

She hated that word.

 _Perfect._

"There's a chance that this demon won't even show up tonight, right?" Gajeel asked the girl, annoyed when she didn't respond.

"According to the files, it should appear any time from 11 to midnight. It's almost 11 now." Panther Lily answered for her.

"If you end up not doing anything, don't think I won't take all of the reward money for myself." Gajeel told her, trying to get some kind of response from her. "Hey, anyone home?" He asked, walking up to her and waving a hand in front of her face.

She glanced at him, but went back to looking at the swamp, a sadness in her eyes.

"Whatever." He grumbled, going back over to Panther Lily.

She wished that Natsu was with her. They could cuddle, or spar, and get ready for the fight.

Instead, she had annoying banter with metal head and a cat with wings.

Suddenly, she missed Happy. Despite his annoying sarcasm, his cheerfulness could cheer her up from almost any slump.

Her body stood, suddenly, without her consent. Her hands were balled up into fists, wanting to fight something. She ran over and punched Gajeel in the face, surprised when it felt like punching a metal statue. "Now we're talking." He said with a smirk, and returned the favor.

Instead of just sitting around, the three wizards decided to spar and fight each other, sticking to mostly non-magic attacks. Once it hit 1 AM, they figured that the demon would likely not make an appearance that night, so they crashed on their mats and fell asleep.

Panther Lily, missing Cocoa and the physical contact associated with their friendship, ended up sleeping on Kasai's belly. Gajeel somehow ended up cuddling up to her that night as well, his sleeping bag being crap and the fire breather a natural heater.

She ended up not having nightmares that night, too tired from fighting and feeling safe from her friend's contact. Their combined body warmth reminded her of Natsu.

11.

The next day was pretty dull, filled mostly with sitting around and picking fights with each other. At that point in the mission they were literally just waiting around for the enemy to appear, and it was taking its sweet time.

"You're a crappy cook." Gajeel insulted when she tried to make them eggs and bacon the next morning, causing him to get a face full of scalding iron skillet.

"Then you cook, ass hole."

"Why don't you just cook _better_?" He countered, face steaming from the hot metal that she had hit him with.

"My cooking is fine, your taste buds are just stupid." She replied easily, and the day continued pretty much like that.

By that night, they were cranky and wanted to go home.

Luckily, the demon finally made an appearance.

They were sitting around at camp, their small fire burning, but their eyes made contact with a moving object in the swampy water. "Finally." Gajeel groaned, jumping to his feet and grabbing a piece of iron to munch on.

Kasai pushed herself to her feet, not nearly excited, but definitely looking forward to finishing the mission.

"Ready yourselves." Lily commented, getting his sword out.

The entire swamp seemed to come alive, bubbling and gurgling, and all of a sudden a massive object rose from the ground. The force of the movement caused water to splash for miles around, and the roar of it caused the ground to shake beneath their feet.

Gajeel was the first to move, jumping into the air flying towards it, punching his arm at it and sending a pillar of iron towards its scaly flesh.

The impact was minimal, and it swatted him away like a pesky fly.

"Gajeel!" Lily yelled, watching his friend plummet to the ground somewhere among the trees of the mountain.

Kasai caught herself on fire, catching the attention of the swamp monster. It was massive, almost the size of an entire mountain, and had mud and water falling off of it and rejoining the swamp beneath him. He looked like a typical demon monster as the gunk fell off of him, blue scales shining ominously against the full moon.

Panther Lily was the next to run at it, flying into the air while it was distracted and slashing at it with his sword.

Like Gajeel, he was easily swatted away, landing somewhere in the trees.

Next, Kasai ran at the demon. The creature was reaching out to her, curious about her, and when he was close enough she jumped on his hand and started running up its arm.

It may have been large, but it was slow compared to her.

She punched him in the face as hard as she could, using her fire magic to amplify her attack and blood magic to harden her arm.

Nothing.

No damage.

Just like the others, she was swatted away, but instead of landing in the trees, landed in the swamp. The woman struggled against the disgusting mud, glad that she had decided to leave her cloak and backpack at the camp.

The monster roared into the night sky, causing the nearby town to panic.

Gajeel launched himself into the sky again to punch the monster, but his attack barely made a dent.

He was swatted away just like last time, but this time landed on the edge of the swamp, which now looked more like a giant pond, given that most of the trees that had previously occupied it were now torn and thrown to the side.

"Looking good, Kasai." He joked at her, watching her struggle to stand in a particularly muddy part of the swamp. She was covered in crap, having been thrown to a particularly gross part of the swamp.

"Shut up." She replied, causing him to chuckle, and setting herself on fire again to try and dry herself, only managing to harden the mud on her. "And to think I used to love playing in this as a kid…"

The light from her fire had gotten the demon's attention, and he lifted his giant foot, aiming to land on her.

To her luck, Lily scooped down just in time and grabbed her, albeit with difficulty since she was weighed down so much by the mud. When the monster stepped down, where she had been moments ago, the tidal wave of mud rushed towards the pair and almost engulfed them back into the swamp.

"You've gained a lot of weight." Lily admitted, straining to keep them airborne.

"Drop me off on the mainland so I can get this crap off of me." She said, watching as Gajeel tried to attack the demon again, distracting it so that they could get to the sidelines.

He dropped her off as requested, and then flew up to try and help Gajeel.

Unfortunately, while she was busy trying to get the gunk off of her, the demon snagged her while she was distracted and picked her up in his hand.

He lifted her up in his clenched fist, against her struggles, his slimy tongue licking its parched lips. "Yummy." His voice reverbertated, and caused his hand and the ground below him to vibrate from the sound waves.

Gajeel tried to hit him with his iron to let him go, with no luck. "Let go of her, damn it!" He yelled, jumping up and landing on the fist next to her and trying to pull her out of his grip.

Unfortunately, when his back was turned trying to get her out, the demon's other hand gently grabbed the back of his shirt, picking him up and holding him above his wide open mouth.

Kasai used her bugs, which she hadn't used in a while, to set off explosions in the demon's mouth and eyes. The giant demon screamed out in pain.

They were both tossed back to the side of the mountain, landing painfully against the brush but luckily avoiding trees. Lily yelled at them to see if they were alright, and got a minor response from Gajeel, but heard nothing from Kasai.

"This guy is a pain in the ass. We haven't even left a scratch on him." The iron man commented, trying to stand up and coughing from all the dust they had brought up. "Those blasts didn't do shit, and now he's pissed. Kasai, got any ideas on how to beat this guy?" He asked, yelling over to the girl that had landed a few yards from him.

She sat there, unmoving, staring up at the monster that glared at them.

"Oi, Kasai!" He yelled, trying to get her attention. "Did you hit your head or something?"

The demon suddenly roared at them, causing a wave of air to push them and hurt their ears.

Kasai remained unmoving.

The demon had his fist clenched, and was bringing it back, ready to attack them.

"Kasai, move, damn it!" He said, standing up and watching with a fearful eye as the giant fist readied to attack them. "Kasai!"

-1.

Taiyo loved her mom.

She really did.

But sometimes she wondered if she loved her, too.

"Why the hell are you crying?" The older woman asked, walking into the teenagers room without knocking, and staring at her with her hands on her hips.

"He used me." She croaked out, continuing to sob on her bed, hiding beneath the sheets.

"You're the daughter of a dragonslayer. Tears will be your downfall!" She yelled, and punched her daughter in the side, causing her to yell out in pain.

When Maki, her mother, was young, the dragon that raised her was not kind. He did not know his own strength, and hated the sound of crying, so Maki had grown up with the instinct to punch anyone that cried.

She had kicked the habit when it came to other people, but she always pitied and hated anyone that cried.

Especially her own daughter.

Everyday, for three days, she would beat up Kasai until she fell unconscious, and ultimately silent.

On the fourth day, when she was beaten, sore, and bloodied, Maki would dragon her to their usual training spot and throw her to the ground.

Her fire blazed dangerously from her hands, and spread through her body.

The sheer strength of her magic was matched by no other. She was easily stronger than any other dragonslayer, and never been beaten in battle. The woman was a warrior, pure and simple, with no allegiances but her own.

"I am going to hit you with everything I have. If you don't dodge, you will die." The woman would speak, her voice even, powerful and commanding. "If you intend to waste your life crying and hiding in your bed, then you might as well be dead."

Kasai sat up, emotionally and physically exhausted, the magic emanating from her mother shaking her to her core.

She had never felt so much fear. So much weakness.

Her body felt like paper.

She wondered if she even had the energy to stand.

Their brown eyes were locked on each other.

"If you don't dodge this attack, you will die, and I will live knowing that I raised a pathetic and weak daughter."

12.

"What the hell are you waiting for, idiot!" Gajeel yelled at the top of his lungs, watching the red head just sit there, unmoving, and staring at the demon before them. He ran at her and grabbed her arm roughly, pulling her to her feet and dragging her behind him as they ran.

If he had waited any longer, the impact from the demon's hand would have killed them.

It smashed against the side of the mountain, causing the pair to go flying and be covered in dirt and rock.

Mid air, Gajeel latched onto Kasai, pulling her into him to try and minimize the damage. His back skidded against the ground, and because of their angle of descent, began rolling down the side of the large mountain.

The twigs and branches snagged at their backs, creating holes in their clothing as they rolled down the hill, narrowly avoiding smashing painfully into a tree. Rocks painfully bruised their limbs as they rolled.

Unfortunately they didn't stop until they fell over a ledge and landed back in the swamp.

Gajeel cursed like a sailor as he pushed himself to his feet and yanked the girl's arm to get her head above the water, spitting out foul tasting mud from his mouth. "Next time I'm just going to leave you there, idiot!"

The red head suddenly looked up, and at the gesture caused him to look up as well.

The giant, pissed off monster was about to try and step on them.

"I've got this." Kasai said, the tone in her voice confident and back to her old self.

She shoved him, and since his legs were so stuck, he fell back on his butt, splashing the water on her and cursing again. "You better, stupid motherfu-"

"Blood magic: Internal chaos." She spoke as the giant muddy foot descended on them, and she punching upward with her fist making a multiple layered spell.

Gajeel pulled his arm over his face to try and block the sludge that fell on them from the giant foot, but only managed to get the mud already on his arm in his mouth. As the demon cried out in agony, the pair were showered in muddy and water, thankful when the demon jumped back.

Its fall caused a shock wave to ripple through the mountains and town, causing the two wizards in the mud to get even more stuck.

Gajeel and Lily watched in amazement as the demon cried out, and suddenly, was silent.

"You guys okay?" Panther Lily yelled from above, flying over them and trying not to laugh too much at their predicament.

"Why the hell didn't you do that spell sooner?!" Gajeel yelled at her, and then spit out more of the mud that had gotten in his mouth.

Suddenly the ground shook beneath them, and they both froze.

"Don't tell me he's not dead yet?"

"If you had read the files, you'd know that there's a second one." Panther Lily yelled, causing the man to get pissed off and the other to groan tiredly from her seat.

"I forgot about its mate."

Suddenly, still stuck, they found the ground below them moving upward, causing them both to panic. "Shit, is it under us!?"

"Good observation skills, idiot." She told him, although just as panicked and freaked out at the moving mass below them rising at increasing speeds.

Somehow they had managed to land smack down on the top of her head.

It roared, just as loud as the other demon, causing the earth to quake and people to scream for miles and miles around. Not wasting any more time, Kasai managed to manipulate the blood in the other demon and cause it to fly out of the corpse and into the one below them. "That's disgusting." Gajeel commented, trying to stand several times and failing as the demon shook and shrieked, getting stabbed over and over again by the massive blood needles stabbing into it.

As the demon toppled, falling backwards just like the other one, the two dragonslayers jumped off and landed back in the swamp, only to get knocked over again by a wave and forced almost half a mile from their original landing point.

In the chaos, the pair tried to stick together, namely Gajeel grabbing her arm constantly whenever they were being thrown or tossed somewhere.

Kasai's body ached from the thrashing, and muscles hated her for all the extra weight, but her arm in particular hurt like hell. "Pretty sure you broke my arm." She whined, sitting on her knees and spitting out the mud that had managed to get in her mouth.

" _You_ almost got us killed!"

"I also killed both of them. You're welcome!" She yelled back, but couldn't help but laugh at how utterly miserable he looked. He was standing, his arms crossed, and completely covered in mud from head to toe. His expression, caked in mud, was priceless.

"If you guys are done fighting, there's a river nearby that you can wash up at." Lily spoke, flying near them and smiling at them.

"What the hell are you smiling at, furball?"

"You two are adorable."

"Where is the river?" Kasai interrupted, speaking over Gajeel's yells and instantly interested in the river.

"That way." The flying cat pointed, and she instantly stood up and tried to walk towards it, the muck sucking her feet down making it difficult. The other dragonslayer fell over after his first step, losing his shoe in the process and continuing to curse under his breath.

It was still night time, so it was difficult to navigate in the darkness, and both Gajeel and Kasai stubbed their feet on boulders and trees multiple times. "What time do you think it is? 2, maybe?" Gajeel asked after a while, ready to be done with the stupid swamp.

"Feels more like 4." She replied, glaring at Lily as he flew past them with more supplies from camp. "Lucky."

"I wish I had wings right about now."

"Same." She replied, and they both fell into silence again, pulling and straining against the muddy water and tripping every time they started to get dry. The sounds of their feet slurping and pulling at them filled the silence, along with crickets and frogs in the general area. "Thanks for saving me back there."

"You're welcome." He said.

More silence.

"At least we're getting a good workout." She said after a while, and then falling once again, thoroughly soaking herself. "I'm going to take a break."

"This is ridiculous." He groaned, also stopping for a break. "If only that cat would give us a ride…"

"All that iron must make you pretty heavy." Kasai commented, and he nodded.

About an hour later, they finally managed to make it out, finding Lily happily eating some fish he had caught and sitting by a warm fire. "It's about time." He told them, cringing at the hateful glares he received from both of them.

"I'm going to wash off, and then sleep." The red head stated, already pulling her shirt off and walking towards the water.

"That water is probably freezing." Gajeel commented, nonetheless mimicking her and taking his mud soaked, ripped shirt off and tossing it on the ground by the river.

"Don't be a wimp." She replied, tiredly, and after stripping down to her underwear/bra stepped into the freezing cold water. Despite her fire magic, the running current kept pushing freezing cold water at her skin, causing her to shiver.

Gajeel was tempted to tease her, but was too tired to give a crap. He jumped in, splashing her in the process, and washed off the globs of mud trapped in his hair.

When they were clean enough, Kasai dried them both off with her fire magic, and they all reconvened at the small fire that Lily had made.

The dragonslayers sat there for a moment on their sleeping bags, exhausted, and sighed in unison. "That spell you used was pretty impressive." Lily told Kasai, causing her to smile a bit.

"Yeah, that blood magic of yours is pretty powerful." Gajeel added.

"Oh, speaking of which…" She spoke, and suddenly cast a spell, aiming it at the ground. Confused, the men stared at her, suddenly hearing strange sounds in the distance. "I cast a spell to make the trees absorb the magical energy of the demons and redirect it back into the swamp… it'll also help them decompose…"

"You're making trees eat those swamp monsters?" Gajeel asked, and she nodded, smiling widely.

"Fairy Tale wizards are crazy…" He mumbled, yawned, and then started munching on some iron nails.


	20. Chapter 20

**Warning:** Partial rape scene and themes.

 **Author's Note:** For the record, I do NOT think that all rape victims turn into rapists, and think that the myth is atrocious. There is a SLIGHT correlation between rapists and victims, BUT, the correlation has been blown significantly out of proportion over the years. Why does the myth suck? Because it basically labels rape victims as future rapists.

That being said… Kana is extremely unstable, and has an alcohol problem along with abandonment issues. Please don't hate me for my version of her. :/

 **Chapter 20**

Politics, Rumors, and Bets- Oh my!

Kasai sighed, looking at herself in the mirror and noting the bags under her eyes. Her hands were locked beneath her on the counter, keeping her upright and allowing her to stay still. She tried to steady her breathing.

She was 'dolled up', as Lucy had put it. Her spirit had done her hair, and the other women had picked out her outfit; a relatively slinky red dress, showing off her legs and arms, albeit thankfully not her cleavage. It had a halter top neck, looping around her neck with a beautiful gold design embedded in the red fabric. Matching red heels pinched at her feet, making her miss the comfortable sandals that Erza had recommended so long ago.

The scars from her recent dragon encounter went from her shoulder to her torso, and her dress allowed some of the bite marks to be visible. She had been told several times that the scars were attractive, but for a moment, she was contemplating getting a dragon tattoo to cover it.

A dragon tattoo on her dragon scar. The idea caused her to chuckle.

Suddenly, her date walked into the bathroom, a mischievous and evil smile tugging at those red lips. Her hips swayed as she entered, her black and red tuxedo shimmering beautifully against the soft light shining from the walls.

Kasai scowled, a sigh escaping her body, momentarily locking eyes with the she-devil. "I'm going along with this because you won a competition, not because I like you." The red woman's words were cold, bitter, and her obvious dislike for the woman obvious.

"Then I will just have to convince you otherwise." The brunette said softly, stepping towards her, and chuckling when the red head bumped into a wall with her back to it. She placed a hand on the wall she pressed against, sensing the fear that crept into Kasai's chest, and reveling in the power.

A flash.

They both looked over to see one of the magazine reporters standing in a stall with the door open, smiling. "You two are so cute! A kiss for the camera?"

1.

-3 months ago-

Gajeel found himself enjoying the young, pissed off fire breather, as a job partner. She was strong, smart, and unlike most other Fairy Tale wizards, didn't tip-toe around him. They talked shit to each other when they felt like it, and neither was easily insulted by the other. Kasai would give him pointers on his fighting skill, and when he could, Gajeel would do the same for her.

They'd been teamed up for almost a month, and their time spent at the Guild Hall was minimal. Kasai wanted to avoid Natsu, and given the other wizards' uneasiness around him, Gajeel didn't mind jumping from job to job. At the end of their job, they would show up, get another job, and leave. In their month as team mates they bonded and became a formidable team in Fairy Tale.

Given her living situation, they also became roommates. Contrary to his image, he actually had a well-kept apartment and comfy couch for the red head to crash on.

"Do you love her?" Lily asked Gajeel asked one night. They were home alone, Kasai staying with Kana for the night, and found themselves bored at the dinner table. The apartment was unusually quiet without the bicker of the dragonslayers, and awkward interjections of the cat trying to quiet them down.

"Nah. She's not my type." He answered simply, going back to his bowl of ramen.

"Come on, I may be a cat, but I'm not an idiot. A guy and a girl living together for so long… something is bound to happen." The cat said, wiggling his eyebrows at the man and causing him to blush.

"It's not like that. She's like a guy."

"Uh-huh." Lily commented, not convinced, and causing the dark-haired man to glare.

"She and Natsu are going to get back together. I've seen the way she looks when she thinks about him… he's the only one for her." He said simply, trying to explain it to the feline sitting across from him.

"So… nothing happened on the last job when I wasn't there?"

"Nope." He confirmed, causing the black cat to frown.

2.

"Wow, this is… great." Kasai complimented, sitting at Kana's small dining room table and smiling awkwardly at her. She was wearing a simple pair of black slacks and purple button-down shirt.

The fire woman hadn't expected such an extravagant dinner. Kana had cooked a fancy shrimp/pasta dish, bread, wine, candles, and had orchestra music playing softly in the background. In the oven were brownies, which they could both smell from the dining room.

"Really? You like it?" The brunette asked excitedly, her breasts bouncing slightly with her movement. She was adorned in a beautiful (very low cut) black dress that, make up done, hair curled and nails painted sparkly pink.

"Yeah. What's the occasion?"

"I'm just so happy to see you." She said, and took a sip from her glass of wine. "You've been gone a lot. It feels like forever since I last saw you."

"Sorry… when Natsu broke up with me, I didn't want to stay in town."

"I'm so sorry to hear," She said, overly sympathetic and reaching her hand out to hers. Her slender fingers covered Kasai's, stopping her from taking a bit of her food. While she leaned over, the red head got an eyeful of her cleavage, and she suddenly felt extremely awkward.

"So how's your dad doing?" Kasai asked, changing the topic and awkwardly getting her hand back. She filled her mouth with pasta, face red, and trying to avoid eye contact.

"I rely on no man. I've been cutting out all men in my life. They're scum." She said, causing the red head to look at her surprised. "They're all the same."

The red head choked down the large amount of noodles to speak. "A lot of guys suck, but they don't all suck."

"They all lie and manipulate. Just like those bastards did to me, just like Kiken did to you, just like our Guild Master."

Kasai flinched, suddenly regretting the time she confided in the woman. At the time she was trying to comfort her by sharing her own secrets, to make the woman less self-conscious about her experience, but by the look in her eye she realized it was a mistake. "Our Guild Master hasn't done anything to us."

"They're men that just want control."

"Three out of four of our s-ranked wizards are women. Our Guild is pretty balanced in terms of gender and power."

"Kasai, Kasai," She said softly, and took another sip of her wine.

The red head also took a sip from her glass.

"Natsu was violent like your mother, wasn't he?" Kana asked, causing the fire woman to break the glass in her hand.

"Natsu is nothing like my mother. I don't know what the hell you're…" She spoke, but half way through her speech, realized that she couldn't feel the cuts on her hand.

Her vision was slightly blurred, going in and out of focus.

She stood, pushing the chair behind her, but fell to the ground. The table fell with her, the dishes clashing to the ground, glasses breaking, wine spilling onto the floor.

"You drugged me?" Kasai asked, writhing on the floor and trying to get back up, but finding that whatever she spiked her drink with moved fast. Her hands and feet were already numb.

The red head tried to crawl to the door, broken glass unknowingly digging into her arms and knees, but ultimately fell short by several feet.

Her heart beat was slowing, despite her desperate reaches.

Kana, once the red head was unmoving, walked towards her.

Her heels clicked against the hardwood floor, and stopped once they reached the side of Kasai's face. Her right foot nudged her shoulder, and after a little struggle with her balance, managed to turn her over onto her back.

"It's a paralyzing drug. You can see and hear everything that happens, and once it fully kicks in, you'll be able to _feel_ everything. You'll be paralyzed for the next few hours." She explained, and kneeled down, avoiding a few shards of glass and porcelain. "I have to keep your head facing the side, otherwise you could choke on your own tongue."

'Go fuck yourself.' Kasai yelled in her mind, terrified at the situation, and unable to concentrate against the fuzziness that clouded her mind.

The woman caressed her cheek, and Kana placed a gentle kiss on the woman's lips.

The red head stared, eyes wide, unable to do anything.

"I love you." The brunette whispered into her lips, staring at her with large brown eyes.

Kana moved her legs over the woman in order to straddle her hips, and began unbuttoning her shirt. For the time being, the red head couldn't see or feel her, but could vaguely see her hands moving in her peripheral vision.

"I didn't just drug you… I also drugged myself. My organs should shut down in about an hour." She explained, and leaned over to kiss the woman's stomach. "I want to die with you."

Her fire magic finally kicked in, but she didn't let go. "I'm going to die in an hour anyway, there's no point. Burn me." She dared, and at that information, the flames disappeared.

'She's my friend. She's a member of Fairy Tale.' Kasai reminded herself, and suddenly she could feel again. She couldn't move, but she could feel the glass that sliced her skin and teeth that grazed her chest. 'Blood magic.'

Using the blood that was leaving her body, she created makeshift arms to try and push her away, but unfortunately the brunette just bit down harder. To the red head, using her blood magic without the use of her body was like doing ten puzzles at once. Whether it was the drugs or the magic itself, getting the brunette off of her was going to be more difficult than anticipated.

She left bite marks all along her torso, licking and digging her teeth and nails whenever she tried to use her blood magic. "My dying wish is to make sweet, sweet love to you. Don't deny me this."

'I'm not going to let you die.' Kasai thought, and with all of her mental strength, pushed the woman away with her blood magic, causing her to fly into the wall and hit her head.

Since her head was already facing that direction, she could see the brunette, and was thankful to see her unconscious.

Manipulating the blood was becoming easier, but it was still difficult.

Somehow she had to get her to the hospital.

After mentally resting for a moment and mapping out her plan, she took a deep breath. Time was not on her side, and making her unconscious may have made the effects even worse than before.

Blood magic to hold her head, waist, thighs, calves, feet, wrists, and upper arms; and then basically treat her body like a puppet, and somehow pick up the unconscious woman on the floor.

Confusing.

Head spinning.

'Save. Kana.' Became a mantra in her head, keeping her moving, and once the woman was in her arms, jumped out the window and began running to the hospital.

3.

After hours of laying on a park bench, paralyzed, she was beyond thankful to be in Gajeel's bathroom shower.

The water was warm on her skin, the water droplets bouncing off and washing away the blood. Red and clear liquid streamed down her bruised body, and all she could think about was how nice it felt.

She couldn't think about Kana, broken and dying in the hospital, no one to be there for her.

Despite her actions, she still cared about her.

But, as she pulled out a shard of glass from her forearm, she knew that their friendship was over. Kana had feeling for her that she could never reciprocate, and Kasai could never forgive her for making her feel so vulnerable.

Suddenly, the red head realized she was shaking.

Her gaze locked onto her hand, clean, but still shaking. The memory of her mother suddenly popped into her head, and the image of the fiery woman scolding her for such weakness caused her hand to clench into a fist.

Once she was done, she turned the water off, and stepped out of the shower. In her hurried dash for the bathroom, she forgot to grab clean clothes.

Instead of worrying about it, she simply changed back into her slacks and sports bra, throwing the shirt in the trashcan. It was torn and bloodied, which was no use to her.

After drying her short red hair, letting it stick up in odd directions for the time being, she looked in the mirror at herself. There were at least 7 different, distinct, bite marks across her muscled torso and chest. Small cuts lined her side and right forearm, along with her hand. There was still lipstick on her lips, so she hurriedly wiped it off with the back of her hand.

When she left the bathroom, she walked over to the corner of the living room where her duffel bag of belongings hid. Unfortunately, half way there, she heard the door to Gajeel's room open, and found him standing there. He was shirtless, only wearing his black pajama pants with cats on it. "What are you doing home so late? I thought you were staying the night at Kana's?" He asked and yawned, not completely awake, and not bothering to be bashful about their lack of dress. Since they had started sparring with each other, they'd gotten used to seeing each other in less clothing, but suddenly Kasai was overly aware of it.

"Sorry for waking you. I forgot it was so late… or early, depending on how you think about it."

"Geez, did you piss someone off or get laid?" He asked, noticing the bite marks on her, and furrowing his eyebrows. Even though the light was dim, the source being a small light in the kitchen, his eyes had adjusted and could see her perfectly. Most of the damage blended with the shadows, but most of it was clear and still bleeding.

"I-I-I'd rather not talk about it." She stuttered, kicking herself for it.

"Since when do you stutter?" He asked, watching her turn away, her breath uneven. Usually he would insult him, or ramble something he couldn't understand, but she was unusually silent. "Did you and Kana have a fight or something?"

She took a deep breath, calming her nerves. "K-K-Kana… is in the hospital, so I need to tell Guildarts. Will you come with me?" She didn't look at him, but could sense his prying eyes on her.

"Uh, sure. Let me grab my shirt." He said, deciding to not pester her about what happened.

4.

"Sorry to wake you, Guildarts." Kasai spoke, noticing his bed head. His hair stuck up in every direction and there were visible bags under his eyes.

"Midnight visits from you are never good." He said, not bothering to hide his distaste for her presence. "Not that I don't like you visiting, but you know…"

"Kana is in the hospital. She tried to kill herself."

"Is she okay?" He asked, not as surprised as they thought he would be. It almost seemed like he expected the news, or had been waiting for it to happen. Or just tired.

"She drugged me, so I had to lay on a park bench paralyzed for hours. I had to use my blood magic to get her there, and had to leave so that the staff wouldn't try and treat me too. Whatever drug she used on herself, she said she had an hour before it would kick in… so hopefully I got her there quick enough…. You don't seem surprised by any of this." Kasai finally stated, her hands in her pockets and visibly on edge. She chewed on her cheek, watching the older man sigh and lean against the frame of the door.

"The new medication she's been on has made her erratic…. She won't let me near her, and keeps raving about men being evil." He explained. "I had hoped that being around you would make her chill out."

Gajeel stayed unusually quiet, trying to stay out of the situation and just observe.

"Come on…" Guildarts muttered, and stepped forward, closing the door behind him.

5.

"I hate hospitals." Gajeel commented when they entered the building.

"Same." Kasai commented.

The staff were treating her like a rape victim, and under protocol had called the local police. When the three wizards arrived at Kana's hospital room, she was unconscious and covered in bandages, two police officers standing by the entrance and speaking to a nurse.

"I thought you said she overdosed?" Guildarts asked, looking to the young red head in confusion.

"She couldn't feel my fire magic and probably burned herself." She replied, and looked at the familiar officers. "Hey Dan, Charles."

"Hey chickadee, long time no see." One of them said, smiling at her presence and pulling her into a hug. "We all helped search when you disappeared. You made our jobs a lot harder when you left."

"Thanks. I've missed you guys, too." She said, hugging the second officer.

"So did I hear you right about burning this young lady?" Dan asked, straightening his posture and trying to look professional again.

"Self-defense. How about we talk somewhere more private?" She asked, and then turned to Gajeel. "I'll be right back, it shouldn't take too long."

6.

"You're friends with the police, huh?" Gajeel asked on their way home, eyeing the tired woman at his side, and inwardly groaning at the realization that it was already morning.

"A few of them…" She replied, hands in her pockets and walking slower than usual. "Thank you."

"Whatever." He replied, not looking at her. A smile tugged at his lips when she playfully punched his arm.

1.

Kasai found herself alone in the forest the next day, quietly meditating on the edge of a small field. It was a common place that she trained and sparred, but today, she just felt like meditating.

She needed to refocus her thoughts. Center her magical energy.

Breathe.

 _Girl_ , a low rumble whispered in her mind, and her eyebrows furrowed. The voice, soft, rattled through her mind and echoed through her thoughts. _Do you want my power?_

The blood dragon was trying to reach her telepathically.

 _Girl-_

"My name is Kasai." She stated, calm and confident in her words.

 _The pathetic humans that captured me… They used telepathy magic to make me want to train you._

"Why would they do that?"

 _Because they need you to power their artificial dragon. They stole much of my blood before your arrival, and have already begun creating a new one. They thought they could manipulate me into training you._

"Sounds like it worked."

 _I am giving you the opportunity to kill them all. Didn't you say that they killed your friends?_

She paused, steadying her breaths and heart rate.

 _I want revenge._

"So if I promise to avenge you… you will teach me Blood Dragonslayer Magic?" She asked, clarifying the proposal.

 _Yes._

Another pause. Her mind was racing with possibilities, but ultimately when she came down to it, it was a gamble.

Learn the secrets of blood dragonslayer magic, from an actual _dragon_ , take down the Guild but risk being a huge target of the Blood Guild. Or decline the offer, and just be a minor target to the Blood Guild for the rest of her life.

"I'd say we have a deal."

 _I will instruct you where to find me in two days._

2.

That night, she wrote two notes.

One, to Gajeel, thanking him for being a good friend, and telling him that she may or may not return. She was going on a journey that she couldn't take him on, and if she did return, she would be powerful enough to protect everyone.

The other, to the Guild, informing them that she was taking a temporary leave of absence, and her return date was unknown.

3.

"She WHAT!?" Natsu yelled at the top of his lungs, causing the rest of the Guild to wince at the sudden sound. He was glaring at Mirajane, his fists slammed down on the bar, and Gray ready to intervene if he started throwing punches. Natsu had just returned from a job that had lasted longer than expected, 3 weeks to be exact, and Lucy had just talked about going on a scavenger hunt for a clock, when Mirajane had interrupted with the news.

"Why the hell do you care? You broke up with her a month ago." Gajeel interjected, sitting calmly at a table nearby.

"I never broke up with her! What the hell are you talking about? And where the hell did she go?!" He yelled, turning his attention to the fellow dragonslayer. "You better start talking!"

"She said you broke up with her and left her homeless." He replied, slightly confused by the fire Dragonslayer's anger. He exchanged an equally confused look with Lily, who shrugged.

"That explains the rotten food…" Happy commented nearby.

"I've been gone on jobs the past 5 weeks! I haven't even seen her in that time!" The pink-haired man yelled, now grabbing Gajeel by the collar and ready to hit him.

"Natsu, calm down! You're not going to find out anything this way." Gray interjected, managing to shove the fiery man away from him. Gajeel, still confused, watched Natsu carefully as he struggled against Gray's grip.

"She left a note saying that she was leaving, but didn't know if she would be coming back… she didn't say where she was going." Mirajane spoke, feeling bad for the confused Dragonslayer. She had known him since they were kids, and the look in his eyes was eerily similar to his expression when they thought Lisanna had died.

"So she just left, and none of you guys did anything to stop her!?" Natsu yelled, now being held back by Elfman as well.

"You really didn't dump her?" The Iron Dragonslayer asked.

"Of course not! Now someone tell me what the hell is going on!"

"When you calm down, we can find some answers, idiot!" Gray yelled back at him, using his Ice Make magic to try and restrain him, but failing.

"Where the hell is Kasai!?"

4.

A half hour later, after many injuries and broken tables, along with burns, Natsu had finally calmed down enough to sit and listen to the other Guild members. They sat in an odd circle, like a meeting, everyone offering their two pieces on the matter.

"So let me get this straight," Natsu spoke, sitting with his elbows resting on his and hands igniting on and off. His gaze stayed on the floor, to try and keep the rage built up inside from spilling out. Fighting had used up a lot of his energy, but as every Fairy Tale member knew, his power could exponentially increase with his anger. "Someone pretended to be me, made her think I broke up with her, and then she started doing missions with Gajeel."

"Yeah. She was pretty upset, especially given the job we had just finished… That woman took down a 5 story demon with one hit." Gajeel added.

"What was the job?"

"The one before we came back?"

"Yeah."

"We were searching for Igneel, actually." He said, and that got Natsu's attention. His eyes locked onto his, the intensity of his stare worsened by the stray flames of fire that that licked his skin. "We didn't find him, and the dragon we found was pretty useless. We barely got out alive."

"You guys fought a dragon?" Lucy asked, surprised that she hadn't heard about it sooner.

"No. After we freed him, he tried to kill us, but Kasai got us out of there just in time. We went there to try and talk to him, but he was so pissed off, there was no talking to him."

"Why didn't she take me?" Natsu asked, his eyes steady and locked on Gajeel's steely ones.

"You weren't here, and she didn't want to risk taking a non-dragonslayer…. Turned out, it was the Blood Guild that captured the dragon, and was working on their own artificial dragon. Once we freed the dragon, it tore the place down."

"You're lucky to be alive." Guildarts commented.

"Yeah…" Gajeel agreed. "Hella fun, though. We got to fight zombies, and-"

"What happened when you got back?" Natsu interrupted.

"We told the Guild Master what happened, and according to her, you broke up with her that night. She didn't sleep, just wandering around the streets all night… requested a job the next morning, and I happened to be here, so I went with her as backup."

"How convenient." Natsu commented, his hands continuing to light up on and off, making everyone uneasy.

"I asked him to go with her, Natsu. She was upset." Mirajane spoke up. "Gajeel was a good friend for her."

"So great that they started living with each other." Kana brought up, causing Natsu to visibly tense.

Gajeel glared at her, and if her dad wasn't there, probably would have punched her face in. He saw what she did to Kasai, and medication or not he thought she was an ass hole. "Is that true?" Natsu asked.

"She slept on my couch, dude. She also stayed with Kana when we weren't on jobs."

"But her stuff stayed at your house." The brunette added, making the Dragonslayer rethink the punching idea.

"After what you did to her, you're really going to make _me_ the bad guy?" Gajeel asked, growling under his breath. "Kasai may have forgiven you, but I sure as hell haven't."

Natsu, unusually quiet, watched the exchange between them.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You're a lying piece of shit."

"Gajeel," Guildarts interrupted, a threatening tone in his voice. "Remember that that's my daughter you're talking to."

Lily smacked Gajeel on the arm, causing him to look down at the black cat. They exchanged a look, and without saying anything, the Dragonslayer knew what he was thinking. "Fine." He grunted, folding her arms and avoiding eye contact with the other wizards in the room.

An awkward silence filled the room.

"In the note she left me," Gajeel spoke after a moment, looking at a spot on the floor. "She mentioned that if she came back, she would have a lot of power. Not sure what she meant…"

"It's possible that she found another library." Levy suggested. "She was pretty upset when she found out that the Temple had been destroyed."

"Kasai didn't want us to tell you this…" Macao spoke up, his blue hair shining overly bright against the lights. "But given the situation, it could be important."

"You know how secretive she is about that stuff. She'll kick your ass if she finds out you told everyone." Gajeel interrupted.

"He knows from personal experience." Lily added.

"Shut up, you cat!"

"The village that she grew up in, the Sandal Village," Macao continued, ignoring them.

"The nudist colony." Lucy muttered, her face flushed from the memory.

"They were all kill 5 years ago, along with two other villages, in order to power the artificial dragon that Gajeel and he found." He finished, causing the room to become silent again.

"Shit…" Gray muttered, his eyes wide and staring at the Guild Master. "That's terrible."

"And I wasn't here when she needed me the most." Natsu spoke, his gaze on the floor as his hands continuously turning on and off. "You think that she went to get revenge? That the Blood Guild has her now?"

"No way," Gajeel spoke confidently. "Even when she was pissed off, she was rational. She probably heard about some kind of great power that would take them down, and went to search for it. The library thing Levy mentioned is a good bet. Bitch loved to read."

"What did you just call her?" The fire in his hands suddenly engulfed in fire.

"Sorry, habit. She and I had a running gag of insulting each other."

"You're an alien, aren't you?" Natsu suddenly asked, causing a sweatdrop to appear on everyone's heads. "You framed me, order to keep her all to yourself!"

"You're an idiot." Happy stated, and everyone nodded as he started yelling and ranting again.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21:**

 _Ear Nibbler_

"I hope Kasai gets back soon… I don't know how much more the Guild Hall can handle." Macao spoke one day, watching Natsu destroy yet another table. The dragonslayer and the others had only been back for twenty minutes. "Natsu seems more hellbent on destroying everything than usual…."

"He and Kasai used to fight a lot. Now he doesn't have anyone to fight with to burn off his extra fire magic." Happy explained. "You'd be surprised at how much he holds back with Gray and the others…"

"Now that I think about it, he did destroy fewer things when they started dating…" Makarov commented, thinking back to over half a year ago when she first joined. "I assumed he was less energetic for… other reasons."

" _That_ would explain why he's extra cranky, though." Macao commented, knowing what the older man was thinking.

"Huh? What are you guys talking about?" Happy asked, confused by the inside joke passing between them.

"We'll tell you when you're older, Happy." Makarov told him. "Who is that, I wonder?" The old man asked, suddenly noticing a hooded figure enter the room.

They were dressed in a simple black cloak, the edges embroidered with a deep emerald color. Their leather boots made little to no sound against the wooden ground, as if they were floating into the room, and their face was shrouded in shadows. Only a little taller than five feet, they approached Gajeel of all people, and stood next to him.

The dragonslayer, noticing the presence, looked up from his bowl of iron nails, sniffing at them in confusion.

"You're in my seat, jack ass." They growled at him, standing there expectantly.

Gajeel smirked, finally recognizing her scent and voice. Her scent had changed in her absence, but it was definitely her.

Natsu froze in place across the room, his eyes locking on the hooded figure.

"You took your sweet time getting back, skank. I figured you fell in a hole and died."

"I thought the same about you, metal head." She said, pulling back her hood to reveal a face he almost didn't recognize. She looked older, as if she had seen a lot of battles in her absence, and hair was shorter but botcher, as if she had cut it herself with a blade.

"Did your healing magic stop working or something?" Gajeel asked, noticing the new scar running along her neck and cheek. He'd always been jealous of her healing magic for that reason.

"Remember that blood dragon we freed? Well, I told him to bite me, and he took it literally… turns out my healing magic doesn't work against his blood magic. I've got a lot of scars, now."

"You went back to that dragon? Are you nuts?!" He asked, watching as she took a seat in front of him, still amazed at the jagged scars visible on her face and neck.

"It's a long story, but now I'm a Blood Dragon Slayer. I used my meditation spells to train with him, so that even though a few weeks have passed, it's been more like a year for me."

"You learned how to be a dragonslayer in just one year!? No freaking way! I'm calling bullshit!"

"I already knew blood magic, it was just a matter of learning more spells to use it with. He was a pompous jerk, though. If your dragon was anything like him, I don't blame you for not caring about his disappearance. He nearly killed me more than once... scratch that, he _did_ kill me, and brought me back to life." She spoke, and at the end of her sentence, heard someone running towards her. When she turned, her eyes locked onto her ex, who was hurtling towards her with open arms.

The red head quickly moved to stand, swiftly jumping several feet away and moving out of his reach. Natsu tripped over the chair she had been sitting in and fell on his face, and instead of jumping to his feet, stayed on the ground sitting on his heels. "I didn't break up with you! I came back and you were gone!" He blurted loudly and quickly.

Stoically she stood there, staring at the man she loved without expression, her heart breaking at his presence.

"He's telling the truth, Kasai." Gajeel added, causing her to momentarily glance in his direction. "He had no idea you two were broken up. He wasn't even in town when you said he broke up with you."

"We all missed you, Kasai." Lucy added, walking up to her. Several others nodded and agreed.

After a moment of looking down at the pink haired man, his soft brown eyes looking up at her like a puppy, she sighed. "I've regretted not throwing my fire magic at you the night you broke up with me…" She spoke, and almost immediately Natsu blew fire at her, which she immediately breathed in. The burning, tasty, fire slid down her throat and made her literally feel all warm inside. With a slight smile, she returned the gesture, breathing fire at him. "I've been so reoccupied with Blood Magic, I almost forgot what fire tasted like."

Without waiting for another word, Natsu launched himself at her and wrapped his arms around her. He'd managed to get under the sides of her cloak in order to properly get his arms around her. She flinched, her wounds not completely healed, but didn't have the heart to push him away as he nuzzled his face into her neck and held her close. Their hearts were racing. Even after the hell she had been through, she couldn't help but return the hug and wrap her arms around him.

Happy flew over to her and hugged her shoulder. "We missed you!"

"Woohoo, Kasai is back! This calls for a party!" Elfman yelled, causing the rest of the Guild to cheer and agree.

"I love you." Natsu whispered in her ear.

"I love you too… but I would love you more if you stopped crushing my rib cage."

1.

"That's so cool!" Natsu yelled excitedly, causing the other red head to beam at him.

"I know, right!? I'm an _official_ dragonslayer now." Kasai replied, chuckling at the fire man's energetic responses to her tales. He had his arm snaked around her back, a subtle protectiveness; whenever Gajeel got near them, his grip would tighten.

"You must have a lot of good stories." Kana commented, speaking to her for the first time, and causing the young woman to tense.

Most of the Guild Hall was drinking and laughing, dancing, and overall being joyous. A small group had formed off to the side, consisting of Kasai, Natsu, Lucy, Gray, and now Kana. They all had drinks in their hands, sipping or chugging in some cases, while listening to the red head retell her adventures.

"Honestly, the past year has been pretty shitty. Eragon, the dragon that trained me, was an asshole. You wouldn't believe how many times I almost died during that training. At one point I technically did die, and the mother fucker had to bring me back to life using his blood magic."

"Since when do you curse so much?" Natsu asked, commenting on her language.

"Probably… when you broke up with me." She replied, the reminder of what happened causing Natsu to frown and look down. "When I _thought_ you had broken up with me. Being around Gajeel so much didn't help."

"So are you two officially dating again?" Kana asked, causing everyone to look at Kasai expectantly.

"Well, I guess we technically never broke up." She said, shrugging.

"You should win back her heart, you fool!" Erza suddenly yelled, coming up behind them and pushing them apart. "She's been heart broken for months, devastated, and you just pretend like nothing happened? You must fight for her love!" She stated passionately, standing on the table and grabbing Natsu by the collar.

"That's not necessary…" Kasai said, waving her hands in front of her awkwardly.

"Someone has been drinking too much." Someone else muttered. The drunken red head moved and jolted the pink-haired boy as she spoke, having him lifted several inches from the ground, causing him to get dizzy.

"If you don't prove your love, how can she ever truly accept you again!?" Erza asked the young man, causing him to panic.

"But I want her to accept me again! I don't want aliens to take her again!"

"Aliens?" Kasai asked, thoroughly confused and dreading the scene unfolding before her.

Somehow, by the end of the drunk conversation, they had decided to make a competition/game out of it.

One of the rules that Kana offered was that Kasai not be allowed to stay with Natsu until the game was over, since she was a 'prize'. If Erza hadn't grabbed her in time, Kasai would have cut out the brunette's throat.

"She could stay with me." Kana suggested, trying to sound non-chalant about the offer.

2.

"Thanks for letting me crash at your place. Feels like old times." Kasai said, bitter and shoulders slumped as she tossed her backpack to the side of the couch.

"No problem. I can feel the love." He said sarcastically, noting her sour attitude. The man stumbled over his feet slightly as he closed the door after them, locking it.

"No offense, but when I found out that Natsu didn't break up with me, I was looking forward to getting laid tonight. I haven't gotten any action in over a year." She explained, and yawned into her hand before taking a seat on one of the few chairs in the living room. The cloak she had been wearing earlier was still tied awkwardly to her neck, so she lazily pulled at one of the strings, letting the expensive fabric drape over the chair instead. Her arms rested comfortably on the chair's arms, her body relaxing.

"Damn. You got a good workout." Gajeel commented, seeing her body for the first time since her return. During the party, the most skin she showed was her forearms and neck up.

She was wearing a black wife beater shirt with white and green pants, leaving her arms exposed and shirt clinging to her skin. Her muscles, compared to the last time he saw her, were bulging from her arms and torso, and likely her legs too beneath the fabric. Tons of white lines, scars, lined her exposed tan skin. "What?" The woman asked, looking at her body to see if there was something embarrassing that she couldn't see.

"You're… I never really noticed… you're kind of hot."

"You are drunk." She stated, her own cheeks slightly pink from alcohol she had consumed at the party. A giggle escaped her throat.

"You're not too sober either." He replied, smirking at her from across the room while leaning against a wall. "I haven't gotten laid in a long time, either."

The idea was more tempting than she wanted to admit; a brief mental image of them making out on the couch crossed her mind. Her nether regions twitched excitedly, and she subconsciously crossed her legs. "According to Erza, Natsu and I aren't dating." She admitted without thinking.

The blush on her cheeks brightened considerably while the other dragonslayer watched with matching cheeks. Their eyes wandered up and down the other's body, a sudden lust that neither of them had felt before.

Kasai took a deep, shaky breath. Her face felt hot. Her entire body felt hot, and it wasn't her fire magic causing it.

Her heart was pounding, and every inch of her being wanted to jump the man that was staring at her with similar desire. His matching bulging muscles, wild hair, and steely eyes made her chest compress. She could smell the iron on his breath.

She couldn't help but wonder if he made love like he fought. This lust was so abrupt and sudden, but the intensity of it was so strong she wasn't sure if she could resist it.

"So, technically… you're fair game right now." He finally spoke, his voice deep and eyes looking at her like a prey to be hunted. In the back of her mind, she wanted to know what would happen if she were caught. "Otherwise, you would be with him right now."

She couldn't speak. Jaw clenched. Chest rose up and down.

He stepped towards her, swaying slightly, and his hands eventually landed next to hers, grasping the padded chair arms.

His movements, slow, allowed his face to end up on the side of hers, their cheeks pressed together.

He inhaled, smelling the scent of her hair.

She did the same, a chill running down her spine when his eyebrow piercing made contact with her skin. "We shouldn't… do this." She breathed into his ear, and bit down on her lip when his teeth scraped against her earlobe.

3.

Kasai woke up the next morning, strange smells and sounds penetrating her senses. Her eyes creaked open, but it took a moment for them to adjust to the darkness.

She was on a bed, but she wasn't in a motel room. It smelled too familiar… like Gajeel?

Her hand wandered to her torso, and with relief, found that she was still fully clothed, albeit missing her pants. She remembered taking them off mid-sleep so that she would be more comfortable.

She turned her head to look at the other dragonslayer, who lay sound asleep and much less clothed than she. He was only wearing boxers, the bed sheet covering his legs only to his knees.

The memory of their awkward encounter last night caused her to blush again, inwardly groaning at the pure awkwardness of it. At the same time, she couldn't help but be glad that they didn't go through with what they had planned.

Let's just say it didn't take much to satisfy him. Just by nibbling her ear, he was down for the count, and hurried to the bathroom.

In her still buzzed state, she went to his room and fell asleep on his bed; presumably he joined her after she passed out.

Still… he was attractive, and even if nothing was going to happen between them, she couldn't help but admire his half naked body. Toned abs, chiseled chest….

"You better not tell anyone about last night." He spoke, not bothering to open his eyes, simply sensing her eyes on him. His voice was course, gruff, and much deeper than it usually was.

The sound riled her somewhere deep inside, but it was nothing compared to the night before, and she easily ignored it.

"Don't worry, I won't. I'm glad it happened the way it did." She said, her words causing him to turn and look at her.

"What the hell is _that_ supposed to mean?" He snarled.

"My heart still belongs to Natsu, and if we had gone through with it… I'm not sure what I would have done."

"It was a one time thing. I don't actually like you in that way. We were drunk." He stammered, looking up at the ceiling as his cheeks turned pink.

"So… we're good? We're still friends?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just go back to sleep." He grumbled, and turned over on his side away from her. Even though she knew it was mean to feel this way, Kasai couldn't help but smile confidently at his back, knowing that she could get him off just by letting him _nibble her ear_.

4.

"This is stupid." Kasai stated, crossing her arms and staring at herself in the mirror. Her skin was so scarred that nothing feminine or revealing looked good on her. The perfume staining the air was strong and made her scrunch up her nose in distaste. She hated the smell of perfume.

Erza was just outside of the dressing room, an armful of dresses draped over her arm. "Just give it a chance. This night is going to be romantic."

"But I like Natsu and I's version of 'romance' better. We punch each other in the face and then have sex."

"You're not the _least_ bit excited to have multiple men fighting for your love?"

"I'd prefer to be the one doing the fighting."

"So do I, but I think this'll be fun. Are you dressed?"

"I look like a demented pumpkin." Kasai whined, opening the door to let the other red head see her outfit.

Her eye twitched. "Here's some more dresses." The wizard stated, and started hanging them on the various hooks in the small room along with grabbing some of the definite 'no' outfits. "Lucy is working with Natsu to plan your date tonight. She's working extra hard to make sure that's perfect for you. Assuming he wins, of course…. Kana is pretty confident in winning tonight."

"She can go fuck herself."

"That's pretty harsh. She's been working really hard to set up this event, and really missed you when you left." Erza replied, and then left the small room and closed the door behind her, allowing the other wizard to get dressed in private.

"If she wins, I'll be polite and go on the date." Kasai admitted as she changed out of the horrendous orange outfit. "Let's just say she had a bad reaction to the medication she was taking, and although I know it wasn't entirely her fault, our friendship will never be the same."

"What did she do?"

"Like I said, the meds she was on made her act unusual, so I don't want to start rumors." Kasai replied, and then noticed that the next dress she was supposed to try on was electric blue. "Electric blue? Seriously? Just stick to red and green."

"Who's the one with fashion experience?"

"Who's the one being forced to be a prize for a stupid competition?" Kasai countered, glaring at the other woman through the door. She sifted though the dresses that Erza had grabbed her, and eventually found a red one.

"You're not very fun to shop with… Have you heard the layout of the event?"

"Only bits and pieces. I had to fill out some forms and take a quiz."

"The competition starts in 3 hours, and there will be 5 sections of it. 12 men, and one woman, will be competing, while you and 5 other girls are the prizes."

"Who are the other 'prizes'?"

"Juvia, Lucy, Levy, Lisanna, and Evergreen. Mirajane and I, along with a few others, will be hosting it. The first section is a paper test, which will happen before the actual event begins, testing their intelligence."

"That quiz I took?" Kasai asked, and Erza nodded from the other side of the door.

"Yes. The second part will be a weight lifting competition. The third part will be jeopardy style, but instead of general trivia, it'll be questions on each you lovely ladies."

"The form I filled out?"

"Yep. The fourth will be poetry recitation. The fifth will be a fighting competition."

"So much for Natsu winning first place…." Kasai muttered, smoothing out the red dress on her curves, finding it tolerable compared to the rest. "Who else is competing?"

"Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, Fried…" She replied, trying to remember. "Elfman… Kana… Oh, I forgot to tell you- there's going to be two magazine reporters there, so you'll need to be on your best behavior. Fairy Tale needs as much publicity as it can get."

"Which magazines?"

" _Wizards Weekly_ and a local LGBT magazine, called ' _Rainbow_ ', I think."

"Why a gay magazine?"

"Kana has recently been active in the gay community… she's made it pretty clear on several occasions that she admires you, and has hinted that you two have a past."

"Great." Kasai muttered sarcastically, and sighed. "I think I found the dress."

5.

"We'll get this mess fixed up in no time." Lucy's spirit, Cancer, said just before going to town on the young woman's hair. They were all backstage, getting ready for the out of proportion event, doing last minute touch ups and whatnot.

"Are you going to wear that cloak for the rest of the evening?" Lucy asked, giving the woman a weird look. The blond was dolled up quite a bit, and like the others, were extremely excited for the event. She in particular was wearing a beautiful blue gown, sparkling and glimmering as it draped around her body and reached her feet. There was a side slit, allowing one of her legs to be very visible along with her cleavage. Her hair was curled and parts of it tied back with a fancy barrette.

The other women were wearing similar outfits, showing off varying degrees of cleavage and leg. Levy was the only one dressing conservatively, wearing a cute orange dress with a matching scarf tying her hair back, but allowing her bangs to curl and frame her small face.

"I'm going to try." Kasai replied, looking at herself in the mirror and watching the celestial spirit do its thing.

"Who cut your hair last? This is atrocious." He said, tugging at a section of her hair and causing her to glare at him.

"There weren't a lot of hair dressers in the middle of a glacier. I had to use a knife to cut it and keep it out of my face." She replied, also disliking the eyeliner and mascara that stung her eyes. Most of her skin was caked with make up to hide her scars, and she hated knowing that it was likely ruining her favorite cloak.

"This is supposed to be a fun and silly competition, Kasai. Lighten up." Lucy told her, noticing her tense and angry disposition. "I've been working with Natsu for the past few days on his date with you. You're going to love it."

"Assuming he ends up being one of the winners." The red head reminded her.

"I'm sure he'll be one of the winners. Did you know that Loke is competing?" She asked, making the woman look up at her in surprise.

"Your celestial spirit?"

"Yeah, he's technically still a member of Fairy Tale, and thought it would be fun to join in."

"Ladies, we're about to start!" Erza announced, causing a flurry of giggles and excited jumps.

"This feels like a beauty competition…"

"Don't worry, Kasai. All you'll need to do is sit there and be pretty." Lucy stated, smiling at her and getting in line with the other women. Juvia, wearing a white slinky dress, was wiggling and giggling and talking about how much she loved Gray.

"The winners of today's competition will have the choice to go on a date with one of these fine ladies. First place will get first choice, second place will get second, and so on. Let's introduce the beautiful Fairy Tale wizards!" Erza explained, and a roar of clapping and hollers erupted from the audience, making Kasai groan. The sounds of half the town could be heard.

"This just had to be a public event…"

"First up: Juvia Lockser! Also known as 'Juvia of the Great Sea'!" Mirajane introduced, and the blue woman ran up the stage and posed, eyeing her love interest and enjoying the attention. The 'competitors' were all grouped to the side of the stage, many of them pumped and jumping around in excitement. All of them were wearing unusually proper clothing.

"Come on, I wanna fight!" Natsu whined, and Elfman had to shove him into a chair.

"Next up, Kasai! Also known as the 'Fire Gecko'!" Mirajane introduce, and the red head made her way up to the front of the stage. She looked up and shot a fireball from her mouth into the sky, allowing it to explode into an array of colors and cause the crowd to cheer.

"Why the hell are you wearing that!?" Erza whispered, referring to the cloak that hid her body. Many people in the audience had similar reactions, but for the most part, they enjoyed the fireworks. "We spent all morning finding that dress!"

"No cloak, no me." She replied, and walked over to stand next to Juvia as the next person was announced.

6.

"Juvia for 300." Gray said, causing the blue-haired wizard to gush at him.

"What Guild was Juvia part of before Fairy Tale?" Makarov asked, causing several of the wizards to groan.

"That's so easy!" Natsu yelled, pulling at his hair.

"Phantom Lord." Gray answered, gaining 300 points.

"Gray is now in the lead!" Mirajane announced after writing his score on the board.

"He knows me so well!" Juvia cheered, squirming in her chair and swooning for him.

"Keep your pants on… or dress…" Kasai said as she pulled her back into her chair, glaring at the young woman. Suddenly, the red head realized that although she had never liked the woman, she had never asked why she obsessed with the young ice maker or why she was so neurotic. Mentally, she made plans to speak with the woman on a later date.

"Since you got that question right, you can choose the next one." The old man told Gray, and he hummed, looking at the board.

"Lucy for 200." He said, not seeing the woman's evil grin.

"List, in order of attaining, all of Lucy's celestial spirits." Makarov said, causing him to gulp. Gray glanced at Loke, knowing that if he got it wrong, the spirit would steal the points. The Lion grinned at him, confirming his fear.

"Let's see, uh…" Gray started to speak. "There's the mermaid chick, Aquarius, pretty sure she got her first. Taurus, Cancer, Gemini-"

"Wrong!" Makarov yelled, simultaneously slamming down on a buzzer and electrocuting the Ice Make Magic user. Every time they got a question wrong, they would be electrocuted and lose how many points they were trying to get.

Gray: 100

Immediately Loke pushed down on his buzzer, along with Natsu and several others, causing their podium to light up. "Loke!" Makarov yelled, pointing at him.

"Aquarius, Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Sagittarius, Leo, Aries, Scorpio, Gemini, and Capricorn!" He answered, gaining 200 points.

"No fair! He's one of her spirits!" Gajeel accused, but then got electrocuted.

"Choose the next question, Loke!"

"Lucy, for 300! Our love will give me the knowledge to win this round!"

"Lucy for 300… How much is her rent?"

Loke paused, blinking at the older man, and then looking at the blond. "Your _rent_?"

"You have 30 seconds." Makarov told him, and the spirit tried to think back on previous conversations with the young woman.

Nearby, Natsu snickered, his hand hovering above the buzzer.

"… 700?"

"WRONG!" Makarov yelled, and electrocuted him.

Loke: -100

"Natsu!"

"Her rent is 1000 a month!" He answered, grinning when he got the points.

"Natsu is now in the lead by 300 points!" Mirajane announced.

"I choose Kasai for 50,000!"

"It only goes up to 500, you idiot!" Several other people yelled. Kasai, sitting with her arms and legs crossed, sighed.

"Fine, 500! Whatever! I'm going to win this!" He said confidently, and giving his girlfriend, or ex girlfriend, a thumbs up.

"Who was her best friend growing up?" Makarov asked, causing the young fire breather to smirk.

"That's easy. Star and Comet." He answered, and screamed in surprise when he was electrocuted.

Gajeel stole. "Fire magic!"

"Gajeel is now in the lead!" Mirajane announced, much to the displeasure of Natsu.

"What the hell!? That was a trick question!"

"Guess you just don't know her as well as I do." Gajeel smirked, getting a punch in the face and starting to fight with the other Dragonslayer.

Both of them were electrocuted, causing them to stop the fighting, but they both continued glaring at each other. "Stupid-"

Natsu: -200

"Kasai for 400."

"What is her favorite dish?"

"Sushi!" Natsu yelled, smashing his buzzer repeatedly, and getting shocked again.

"Sushi!" Gajeel answered, smirking when he got the points for it.

Gajeel: 900

"No fair!"

"Kasai for 300!"

"You're just doing that to piss me off!" Natsu yelled, getting shocked again when he tried to punch him in the face.

"What is her favorite animal?"

"Fox!"

"Gajeel is now in the lead with 1200 points!" Mirajane announced, giving Natsu a sympathetic glance. He was on the ground twitching, steam rising from his limbs from the electricity. "Natsu is dead last with -1200 points!"

"1200?!"

"You lose points for speaking out of turn! Another negative 500!" Makarov yelled, causing the young wizard to get frustrated and try to attack him, but was electrocuted before he could reach him.

"Kasai for 200!"

"What are her three favorite activities?"

"Fighting, meditating, and reading."

"Correct!"

"I'm surprised you made your questions so easy, Kasai." Gajeel told her, giving her a bemused smirk and enjoying reaction he was getting from Natsu.

Kasai shrugged. "Guess I just like things easy." She replied with a wink, getting a chorus of giggles and snickers. Natsu couldn't figure out who he was mad at more: Gajeel for being an ass hole, or Kasai for encouraging it.

"Let someone else answer a question, would ya?" Kana said, glaring at the taller man. He glared back.

"Kasai for 100." Gajeel stated, going back to the game.

"What is her birth name?"

"Taiyo."

"Correct!"

"Gajeel now has 1500 points!" Mirajane announced.

7.

Fried ended up ultimately winning, but he chose to go on a date with Evergreen. Second place was Kana, and not surprisingly, she chose Kasai as her date.

Natsu tried to convince her to take Lucy instead, even begged, but she wouldn't budge on the issue.

"Are you excited for your date with Kana?" A reporter asked. She was from the gay magazine, and dressed in a suit and tie, very similar to Kasai's usual attire. The woman was short, maybe 5 feet tall, with curly black hair gelled up so much it looked like plastic.

The red head shrugged, trying to be polite for the evening and act like she tolerated the brunette. Kana was at her side, wearing a black tuxedo with a shimmery red tie. The Kasai wasn't so mad at her, she might acknowledge that she pulled off the outfit really well. "I guess."

"I understand that you've recently returned from a trip. Did you know that Kana has been active in the LGBT community the past few weeks? We've already done two articles on her as the only 'out' lesbian in the Fairy Tale Guild."

"I'm glad she's found a community that she likes. I am not personally gay, but two of my best friends growing up were gay. I know it can be difficult to be gay for certain individuals."

"Hi, I'm from _Sorceror Weekly_ ," A second reporter spoke, approaching them with a kind smile and camera hanging from her neck. She was dressed in a simple t-shirt and jeans, her brown hair tied back in a messy bun. Kasai shook hands with her. "Would you two mind if I got a picture of you together? We're going to be doing an issue soon on 'out' wizards a month from now, and would like to feature you two."

"But I'm not-"

"We'd love to!" Kana spoke over her, tugging at her arm with the other woman and using the excuse to get physically closer. The brunette pulled away half of her cloak, much to the red head's annoyance, and put Kasai's arm over her shoulders. Half of Kasai's outfit was now visible, revealing her slinky red dress that she had hoped to wear on a date with Natsu. Kana looped her arm behind her back and pulling her into her side.

"Great!" The two reporters said, and suddenly several other people with cameras appeared, taking pictures of them together.

Kana was absolutely giddy, and Kasai had to awkwardly fake a smile at the multiple cameras taking pictures of them.

8.

Later that night, when the red head had escaped to the bathroom of the nice restaurant, she found herself face to face with her date.

Kasai scowled, a sigh escaping her body, momentarily locking eyes with the she-devil. "I'm going along with this because you won a competition, not because I like you." The red woman's words were cold, bitter, and her obvious dislike for the woman pouring like venom from her pink lips.

"Then I will just have to convince you otherwise." The brunette said softly, stepping towards her, and chuckling when the red head bumped into a wall with her back to it. She placed a hand on the wall next to her head, sensing the fear that crept into Kasai's chest and reveling in the power.

A flash.

They both looked over to see one of the magazine reporters standing in a stall with the door open, smiling. "You two are so cute! A kiss for the camera?"

"No-" Kasai said, but her words were muffled by the lips smashing into hers. By the time she pushed her away, the shot was already taken. "I'm leaving." She said, wiping away the lipstick on her face with her arm.

Kana tried to stand in her way, but she was easily pushed to the side not too gently.

As the red head left, the reporter helped the other woman stand and felt bad for what had just transpired. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have imposed like that."

"She's just shy about kissing in front of strangers… she'll get over it."

The Dragonslayer, now taking long strides through the street with her body completely shadowed by her cloak, grumbled and growled under her breath. "'Romantic'. Being forced to wear revealing clothing and forced on by pompous little pricks…."

Smoke was escaping her nostrils, her fire magic fueled by her emotions. She was walking next to a river, and for a moment, considered jumping in and drowning herself.

She felt humiliated.

Her breathing was erratic, and her heart was racing. She tried taking calming breaths, but she couldn't calm down.

"What's the point in having power if people like her can get away with crap like that?" She growled, kicking a can as hard as she could and watching it fly off into the sky.

"What did that can ever do to you?"

The familiar voice caused the red head to look up, surprised by his presence. "How the hell do you do that?"

"What?"

"Magically appear when I feel like shit." She answered, looking at the Iron Dragonslayer. He was wearing his performance outfit, consisting of a white tuxedo with a red tie and rose on his breast.

"Maybe it's because of your _smoke signals_." He commented, referring to the smoke and fire that she had been breathing.

She took a calming breath, strangely comforted by his presence. "How did your date with Lisanna go?"

"Eh. It wasn't bad or anything, but she's not my type. Or I'm not hers…" He replied, trailing off as he tried to recall the date with the young woman. "Her brother interrupted half way through, and I got billed for the resulting damage."

"Sorry it didn't work out."

"How did your date with Kana go? Get any punches in?"

"I wish." She admitted, causing him to chuckle, and they both started walking. She pulled her hood down and started ruffling and messing up her styled hair. "This competition was stupid."

"It was kinda fun. I won that jeopardy game." He commented, smirking at the memory and looking up at the night sky. "Why aren't you with Natsu right now?"

"I have no idea where he is." She admitted. "And I'm so pissed at Kana I don't really care. She tries that shit again and I'm punching her face it. I don't care how it looks." Smoke and flames once again flared from her nostrils.

"She didn't drug you again, did she?"

"I refused to drink the wine this time. It pissed her off, but like hell I'm going through that again." She said, chuckling at the memory of Kana's annoyed expression when she refused the glass of wine.

"So what did she do?"

"She cornered me in the bathroom. What's worse is that the gay reporter got a picture of us kissing." She said, and glared when the man burst out laughing.

"Gay!" He laughed, causing her to punch his shoulder.

"It's not funny."

"You are the straightest girl I know; that's why it's fucking _hilarious_." He stated between laughs, earning another punch in the arm, this time causing him to fall on the ground. Unfortunately, he continued laughing.

9.

Unable to find Natsu that night, Kasai ended up staying at Gajeel's apartment again. Since his couch was so uncomfortable, at least compared to his bed, she'd started sleeping on Gajeel's bed with him. Nothing funny happened, and they stayed on their respective sides. Their drunken night together seemed like a distant memory, and they were back to insulting each other and punching each other in no time.

When they arrived at the Guild Hall the next day, the wizards were buzzing with gossip about the previous night. Apparently the LGBT issue was already printed, and almost everyone had a copy of it, giving every wizard the opportunity to read the article on the legendary couple.

In her absence, there had been quite a lot of cross-promoting with the magazine and Fairy Tale Guild. The magazine got free-reign access on interviews with the Guild, boosting the Guild's popularity, and with the wizard exclusives they were able to sell more copies of their magazine through town.

Kana was loving the attention; she was the leading representative with the magazine, and currently she was gossiping in a corner with several other people… all of whom erupted in giggles and snickers when Kasai got there.

Natsu was nowhere to be seen.

"Have you read the article yet?" Mirajane asked as the pair walked up the bar, both of them creeped out by all the stares they got. Even Gajeel felt unnerved by all the eyes, despite knowing they were focused on the girl next to him. "They gave us a bunch of free copies this morning."

Mirajane handed Kasai a copy of the magazine, already open to the page with Kana and her posing for the camera at the beginning of the evening. The picture took up the entire page, a lengthy article on the side describing the evening and the couple. "They think you're gay." Gajeel snickered, yelling out in surprise when the female shoved him off of his bar stool.

"Kana said you two really hit it off last night."

When she turned the page, she found that the article continued, along with the picture of them kissing in the bathroom. The photographer caught her right before she shoved her away, making it look like she was groping her.

"Natsu read the article and ran off… I don't know where he went, but he mentioned something about a 'strategy to win you back'."

Once she finished reading the article, Gajeel trying to read over her shoulder, she burned the magazine in her hands and looked up at Kana in the corner, anger in her eyes. "Kasai," Someone spoke, and she felt a hand on her shoulder. Knowing who it was, she turned and threw her fist at him, not surprised when he caught it. "Try not to overreact. You know how reporters can be, they over exaggerate and put words in people's mouths." Gildarts said, smiling awkwardly at her.

"If she comes near me again I will kill her." She seethed at him, her eyes narrowed and tone of voice lethal. The Guild Hall quieted, watching the young wizard's blood magic leave her skin and begin flying around her ominously. "Do you understand me?"

"Kasai, why don't you calm down and have a drink? On the house." Mirajane spoke up, smiling cheerfully at her.

Faster than anyone could see, Kasai's other hand reached up and grabbed Gildarts by the throat. She lifted him in the air a few inches, his hands grabbing her arm that held him up, surprised at the woman's strength. "Do you understand me?" The red head repeated, and several wizards approached them, including Kana.

"Take it easy, Kasai. It's just an article." Erza said, taking a few slow steps towards her. "No one actually believes it. Reporters like to exaggerate stories, and this is no exception."

"Yeah, why don't you just set him down and we'll go with you to the publishers and sort this out." Lucy added. "We'll just go down there, explain that they got some facts wrong, and-"

"Shut up. I'm out of patience for crap like this. My family is dead, everyone I knew as a child is _dead_. I just got back from spending a year with a dragon that used me as a chew toy and trained me in a painful magic that literally tore me limb from limb, healed me back together, and then tore me apart again. I'm done playing games." She said, and at the end of her speech, threw the older man to the floor. "And I'm sure as hell tired of people keeping me away from the man I love."

"Please…" A voice whimpered, getting her attention. Kana stood there, tears in her eyes, staring at the pissed off Dragonslayer with her hands together. She was _begging_. Her body trembled, limbs scrawny and weak, and her legs buckled under her weight. "Don't… don't do this… I love you…."

 _Pathetic._

Anger built up in Kasai's chest. She wanted nothing more than to stab her with the hundreds of small blood shards aimed for her stupid head. 'Stop acting like a victim after what you did to me!' Is what she wanted to yell, but nothing came out.

"Come on, let's go outside." Gajeel stated, patting her on the back and startling her out of her murderous reverie. "You haven't shown me your new Dragonslayer moves yet." He said, beginning to walk away, and then stopping and looking at her expectantly.

"Tch, fine." She finally conceded, shoved her hands in her pockets and following him out of the building. The other wizards hurried to comfort Kana, and although some of them wanted to confront Kasai, Erza convinced them to leave her be.

"You were serious about killing her, weren't you?" Gajeel asked, watching her snort and look away.

"She tried to rape me and make me watch her die. I can't forgive her for that." She stated, and after a few seconds, realized that he had stopped walking.

He stood there, his eyes wide, staring at her. "What?"

"You saw the bite marks. She drugged me with a paralyzer, overdosed on pills, and then tried to take advantage of me when I couldn't move. And she had the audacity to tell a magazine that we had sex." She explained, slightly surprised by his shocked expression. "So yeah. I'm pretty pissed off right now."

"I couldn't… you didn't really seem that upset, so I… I didn't know what to think."

She sighed, suddenly feeling bad for telling him that. He seemed confused and lost, not sure what to do with the information. They stood a few yards from each other on the side of the river, awkwardly avoiding eye contact.

"How is it that so much shit happens to you?"

"Guess I'm just a shit magnet." She replied, causing him to chuckle.

"Let's go find Natsu, wherever the idiot is hiding." He said, and walked towards her. As they started walking side by side, he reached his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a side hug. "If she ever comes near you again, I'll kick her ass."

10.

"Natsu! You home?" Kasai yelled, knocking on the door of his house.

"I can hear the wimp crying." Gajeel commented. From inside, they heard a muffled 'shut up'.

"I'm not gay, Natsu. Kana lied." She said loudly, staring at the door with a lopsided frown. "Either open the door or I'm coming in."

"The door is open!"

"Shut up, Happy!" Natsu cried out, and when the two wizards stepped into the house, they were surprised by the scene in front of them.

The pink-haired boy was on the floor with an onion shoved in his mouth and Happy perched on the back of the couch by him. There was a bottle of rum nearby, half empty, and his pants were hanging on a chair. Various pieces of food were strewn around the house, looking as if he had had a food fight.

He burped, fire spewing from his mouth and causing the fiery onion to launch into the air. Kasai caught it, albeit thoroughly confused.

"Natsu and Lucy had a food fight last night." Happy explained. "And then he refused to cry, so I threw an onion at him, and he caught it in his mouth."

Natsu grinned stupidly from the floor, looking up at her. "You caught my onion!"

"I'm not even going to try and understand this… bye." Gajeel stated, patted the woman on the shoulder, and then walked out the door.

Kasai stood there, looking at the messed up room and drunk boyfriend on the floor. "I looooove yooou!" Natsu stated while extending his arms towards her, giggling and grinning at her.

"You are officially my boyfriend again. Got it?"

"Yussss!" He cheered, sitting up and pumping his fist in the air, but then falling back and passing out on the floor.

"I'm glad you're back. I was afraid I was going to have to clean!" Happy said cheerfully, grinning at her.

"This isn't my mess. I'm going to take a nap and when I wake up, _you two_ are cleaning." She said, then grabbed Natsu by the arm and started dragging him to the bed.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

 _Slumber Party_

"That monster looks like Edward's eyebrows." Gajeel whispered to Kasai, causing her to chuckle quietly.

"You are totally right!"

"What are you guys whispering about?" Natsu asked on her other side, his arm pulling her closer to him.

"Inside joke." She whispered back. "Don't worry about it."

"Is that the actor from that one show?" Gajeel asked, getting her attention again and pointing at one of the minor characters, causing her to beam.

"Ha, it totally is!"

Natsu glared at the dark-haired man, who smirked, further angering the pink-haired boy. Kasai was completely oblivious to it, sitting between them on the only couch. Honestly, since she and Natsu had been apart for so long, she felt more comfortable with the annoying iron eater than her boyfriend. They'd been back together for two days, and most of that time was spent with him digging into her side and being overprotective, along with an annoying dose of awkward.

Fairy Tale had decided to do a movie night. Guildarts offered to let us use an old projector he had, and someone else offered the sheet. There was only one couch, but there were multiple chairs, cushions, and bean bag chairs lying about. "Hey Lucy, uh… doesn't that guy have weird hair?"

"Which guy?" She whispered back.

"That one with the weird hair."

"Just shut up and watch the movie." The blond replied, causing him to mope. Gajeel smirked at him from the other side of Kasai, causing steam to rise from the fire man's head.

"Natsu, relax." She whispered, referring to the hand that was digging painfully into her shoulder. "Just calm down and watch the movie."

"I can't while that idiot is smirking at me."

"Shhh." Levy hushed from nearby.

"You shush." Natsu replied, loudly, and causing almost the entire room to 'shush' him.

1.

"Kana told me what happened between the two of you." Natsu spoke one day, startling her out of her thoughts. She had been calmly sipping at her tea one day, sitting on her criss-crossed legs in serene silence with light flooding into the room, when the pink-haired boy had stepped inside and killed the beautiful moment.

He took a seat next to her on the couch, his hands awkwardly clamped together between his knees, and his back hunched over.

"She doesn't have the best reputation for telling the truth." She reminded him, wondering what exactly she had told him. "Is this why you've been so weird the past few days?"

"I think she was telling the truth." He said, looking down at his hands.

Happy was no where to be seen.

Kasai blew a pillar of fire at his face, and he did the same. At least she knew it was him. "You're gay, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not."

"I wouldn't be angry." He said, looking at her. "I love you, and just want you to be happy. If I can't make you happy in bed, I don't want to guilt you into staying with me."

"If you say one more time that I'm gay, I'm going to start throwing punches." She said, angry, and was annoyed at his puppy dog eyes. "Stop looking at me like that."

"I know you two had a thing."

"She's a lying idiot, Natsu. Why the hell are you believing her instead of me?"

"I love you too much. If she makes you happy, you should be with her." He said, and as promised, she punched in the face and left, her fists on fire and wanting to beat someone up.

2.

"Natsu is an idiot. I don't know why you like him so much." Gajeel commented from the field outside the Guild Hall, dodging one of the fiery fists aimed at his head.

"Smart guys screw me over," She said, throwing another punch, dodging, and then taking a few steps back. "Stupid guys think I'm gay," She continued, dodging some of his punches. "And girls like to shove their boobs in my face and call me gay."

"I wouldn't mind if girls did that to me." He said with a chuckle, momentarily distracted by the idea.

"I've heard of some guys doing that, actually. They say they're gay, and then girls climb all over them." She said, and he smirked at her.

"You don't say?"

"But that would be douche thing to do, and I'd kick your ass if you took advantage of a girl by doing that."

"Oh come on, you can't give me a gun and expect me not to shoot someone with it."

3.

"Is Kasai here?" Natsu asked Lucy when he entered the Guild Hall, looking annoyed and disgruntled.

"She's out back fighting with Gajeel. He was the only one not afraid to fight her." She replied, causing him to grunt. "She seemed pretty upset."

"We had a fight…" Natsu said, and took a seat across from her. "Kana said that they slept together."

"What did Kasai say?"

"She denied it." The pink-haired boy said, resting his elbow on the table and cheek on his palm. "She thought that we were broken up, so I would understand if she did, I just want her to be honest about it."

"What makes you think Kana is right?"

"Because _something_ definitely happened between them." He said, scrunching up his nose. "And when I visited Kana's place, it reeked of Kasai's scent."

"I'm no expert, Natsu, but if she really was interested in her, wouldn't she be with her right now instead of Gajeel? They have gotten really close." The blond suggested, causing the boy's eye to twitch.

"There's no way she'd fall for an idiot like that. He's not even attractive."

"I dunno, he's got the whole 'bad boy' act down to a charm. And he is a dragonslayer."

"What's your point?" He asked, and both of them looked out the window, just in time to see Kasai pin him down to the ground. Then they flipped, Gajeel pinning her down, and he felt a familiar pang of jealousy ring through him. "They're just… fighting."

"Hey flame brain, Lucy, what's-" Gray said, walking up to them, not expecting Natsu to jump up and punch him in the face.

"You asshole!"

"You're fighting the wrong person, idiot." Lucy commented, but ultimately ignored, as she watched them fight and eventually bring in others to the brawl. When she looked back outside, her eyes widened.

4.

He kissed her.

Gajeel kissed her, pinning her down with his weight, in the middle of the empty field where anyone could walk by and see them.

After a few seconds of smashing their lips together, he released his grip on her wrists and sat up, straddling her waist with his legs. She stared at him for a moment, not sure how to react, and unmoving. "I, uh…"

"So what category do I fall into?" He asked, smirking at her speechless expression, fully aware of their compromising situation. "Hot genius that is very aware of the fact that you like having sex with men?"

After a second, she laughed, smiling up at him.

Then, she flipped them over, so that he was on the ground. "Awesome guy to win Halloween contests with."

"Eh, close enough." He said with a shrug. Glad that he didn't take the rejection hard, she jumped to her feet and held out a hand, helping him stand up.

From the window inside the Guild Hall, Lucy was still gawking at the window, completely ignored by the people around her.

"Oh, hey, you've got a little guy on you." Kasai commented, referring to a little caterpillar on his chest.

"Ugly little guy."

"I think he's kind of cute." She said, and tried to pick him up without hurting him. From where Lucy sat, they were at an angle, so she could only see Gajeel's back, but he was looking down as if kissing her.

"Just get it off already."

"Just give me a second, will you?"

"It's just a caterpillar."

"And you're just an idiot, what's your point?" She replied, both of them glaring at each other and going back to their old insults.

5.

"So, uuuh… you and Gajeel seem pretty close." Lucy commented, awkwardly, with her hands fidgeting at her sides. The blond had managed to talk Kasai into walking her home that night, and since Natsu had run off somewhere without word, she'd agreed to it. They were currently walking by the waterfront, the soft sound of rushing water and clear night sky making it a beautiful walk.

"Yeah. He's an asshole, but he's also a good guy. I'd be dead right now if it wasn't for him." She commented, causing the blond to gape at her, and then turn away red faced. "He actually kissed me today."

Lucy stopped walking, squirming around awkwardly and not knowing what to do. "I know I saw!"

"We've also fallen asleep in the same bed a few times, and shared a really drunken awkward moment together."

"Are you saying that you cheating on Natsu?!"

"Of course not. None of that even compares to the number of times you've lost your clothes in front of him, shared your bed with him in the literal sense, or-"

"Woah, we never slept together!"

"He told me he used to sneak into your apartment when you were away and sleep in your bed. So, in the literal sense, you shared your bed with him." She rephrased, causing the woman to look down at the ground awkward and go back to fidgeting with her hands. Kasai sighed, realizing that she was taking out her own frustrations on the wrong person. "That came out meaner than intended. I'm sorry. I was just trying to point out I'm allowed to have friends of the opposite gender, just like he is."

"I should have told you from the beginning that I saw you and Gajeel together. Since Natsu has been so crazy lately, I don't blame you for being on edge."

The red head stood there, awkwardly, her hands in her pockets and eyes locked on the stars above them. "I've been debating whether to tell you something." She admitted after a while, causing Lucy to look up at her in surprise.

"W-what?"

"I don't want to tell you unless you think you can handle it. Personally, I love having knowledge to protect myself, but some people prefer being ignorant to some dangers."

"Are you saying I'm in danger?"

"Not exactly, but if you ever came in contact with the Blood Guild, you may want to know it. It concerns your celestial spirits."

"Tell me." She said, confidently, and locking eyes with the woman. Kasai looked back up at the stars, the found memory of star gazing with Star and Comet making her relax. "If it concerns my spirits, I want to know."

"Sarah, my 'Lucy', as Natsu and Happy called her," She spoke softly. "She was a celestial wizard like you. Beautiful, strong, happy… Kiken destroyed her. One of the many ways he crushed her spirit was by torturing her spirits, and eventually killing them using lost magic."

"What…?" Lucy asked, shocked, and taking a step back. Her hands were shaking, eyes locked on the older woman before her. "That's… that's so awful."

"They can also ground a spirit to keep them in the human world until they die. I didn't tell you because I didn't want to scare you, but I have a feeling that he's going to attack soon. If you end up fighting someone from the Blood Guild, I wanted you to be aware that if you used your spirits, there was a chance of them dying."

"What happened to Sarah?"

"She's dead." She answered simply, not bothering to go into specifics, or even mention that Lucy had watched her die in the Guild Hall.

Lucy stood there, watching the red headed woman, her cloak rippling as a wind gently brushed them. "Thank you for telling me. Do you mind… do you mind if I asked you a personal question?"

"Why not?" Kasai said with a shrug, feeling particularly open that night. She recalled their last 'bonding' experience together, and how a similar thing happened. Maybe she was more comfortable around the woman than she realized.

"I know it's none of my business, and you're welcome to not answer, but what happened between you and Kana? Ever since her attack, she's been distant, and she started to open up to us more… but she's always loved you. She talks about you all the time, and you two spent tons of time together. All of a sudden, you're threatening to kill her for something written in an article? I know that you've been through a lot, but that's no reason to treat someone like that! Do you have any idea how long it took her to open up to us, and the pain and suffering she's gone through to get that confidence? She's been through a lot too!" She yelled, her initially question turning into a rant, and eventually tears were falling down her face.

Kasai stood there, watching her sob and shake, and after a moment, sighed. "Are you done?"

The woman, face wet and tears falling onto the cobblestone, tried to wipe away her tears and regain control of herself. "I just… I don't understand…" She said, looking up at Kasai. Pain wracked through the fire breather's chest, thinking about all of the people she had let down, and her gaze went back to the stars.

"Kana tried to rape me. She was so drugged and intoxicated, it's very possible that she believes we made love." The woman answered coldly, closing her eyes and imagining herself on a soft grassy hill with her two friends Star and Comet. The soft gurgling of the river behind her made the fantasy more realistic, imagining a babbling brook nearby.

"She… no, she couldn't, not after-"

"I gave a statement to the police afterwards, and they have pictures of the bite marks and bruises on me. Talk to Dan at the Police Station, and he'll show you the report." When the red head looked back over at Lucy, she was on the ground, crying.

"It can't be…"

"She was trying out a new medication, Lucy. Guildarts said that she had been unstable for days, and it was just a matter of time before she snapped."

"You're stronger than she is! It doesn't make any sense!"

"She used a paralyzing drug so I couldn't move, and then tried to take advantage of me. She overdosed on pills so that when I regained control over my body, she would already be dead. Lucky for us, I used my blood magic to get her to a hospital before that happened."

Kasai wondered if she was still listening, sitting on the ground hunched over with tears pouring from her eyes.

Slowly, Kasai walked over to her, and crouched down to eye level. "Hey," She said softly, and reached her hand to Lucy's chin, making her look up at her. "Shit happens, and I'm sorry that I wasn't stronger or smarter to keep it from happening. I'm sorry that I can't save everyone, but I'm trying my best."

Lucy reached her arms out and hugged her, causing the red head to pause and blink. She was more prepared for a slap in the face or more crying, but instead she was pulled into a warm and caring embrace. "You don't have to deal with this alone."

The red head had been hugged before, but this felt different. Lucy didn't want anything from her, she didn't blame her for failing, and they had never been close… but now, she was genuinely reaching out to a friend. "I'm sorry about your dad, and Michelle." Kasai spoke, feeling awkward and trying not to feel so emotional about the hug.

It was nice… warm.

Safe.

For a moment, it truly felt like she had been transported to the past, and it was Star or Comet that she was hugging. Like their spirits were channeling through her.

Since they used Celestial Magic, and Lucy is a celestial wizard, Kasai wondered if it was actually possible.

"I'll be okay." She said, and leaned back, away from her. "I may not be that strong, but I'll do everything I can to protect you."

"That's not necessary, but-"

"You may think that no one notices, but they do. You've been looking out for all of us at the Guild, walking people home at night, giving people muffins," The blond spoke, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand. "The way you took care of Kana…. Even after what she did, you still protect her."

Kasai looked away, her cheeks red, and chewing on the side of her mouth.

"Let me protect you."

"Look… I was going to give this to Natsu, but…" Kasai spoke, awkwardly, and pulling out something from her pocket. She held her hand out to the wizard, palm up, with two crystal necklaces in her hand. "I know that you're used to Natsu saving your butt, but if you ever need me, or are trying to find me, just whisper my name into the crystal and it'll light up and point to me."

Lucy sat there, eyes red, looking at the crystals with a curious expression. They were small crystals, only dime width wide, and were both red.

"I've been working on it for a while… it's simple magic, but extremely durable. It should, hypothetically, work all around the world. So long as we're both in the same dimension, it should work."

"I don't know what to say." She said, and gingerly took one of them in her hands, staring at it. "It's beautiful."

"You don't have to wear it as a necklace, either. You can put the crystal on a bracelet, or anklet, or even in your pocket. Just make sure not to lose it."

"You made this for Natsu?"

"I think it's better if you have it." She said, smiling, and put the necklace she didn't take around her neck.

"Thanks. I'll try not to abuse it."

"Good." Kasai said, grinning, and causing the other girl to mimic her.

"What are you guys up to?"

The pair looked up from the ground, surprised at the appearance of Gray and Natsu. Gray was the one that asked the question, and Natsu was standing next to him looking annoyed. Happy landed on Natsu's head, smiling mischievously. "Just having a heart to heart." Lucy answered.

"Is that why you to are crying?" Happy asked, and Kasai looked at him surprised. She reached her hand to her face, noticing that her cheeks were wet.

Her body froze.

'When did I cry? Am I still crying? What is going on?'

Her heart sunk.

She was looking down at her wet hand, ignoring their conversation now, her mind racing.

"You alright, Kasai?" Happy asked after a while, noticing that she was just staring at her hand, hair curtaining her face from view. The others stopped talking, pausing to look at her.

"Earth to Kasai." Natsu said, waving a hand in front of her face. She suddenly stood, keeping her face concealed, and started running. "Hey! What's wrong!?" He yelled, chasing after her while the other three stayed put.

"She seemed okay a minute ago…" Lucy commented, confused by the woman's sudden departure. She looked back down at her hand, the crystal still shining on her palm, eyeing the interesting shades it produced.

When Natsu caught up to her and grabbed her arm, she twisted out of his grip and punched him in the face. As he stepped back, she swooped her legs to topple him, and as he fell she was already running again.

6.

"Kasai locked herself in the bathroom and won't come out. I don't know what to do." Natsu told his friends the next day at the Guild Hall, yelling in aggravation and slumping on the table.

"You just need to give her time and space, Natsu. She'll come around when she's ready."

"No, he should try and comfort her. She needs a shoulder to cry on."

"Maybe we should all go over and comfort her? Show her that we're there for her?"

"Yeah! We can throw a party for her!"

"She needs to know that she's not alone."

"What she needs is booze."

"Booze and crying?"

"We should do something nice for her… I know that when I'm sad, I like to eat brownies and snuggle into a blanket by a warm fire."

"You guys are idiots." Gajeel stated, referring to the women surrounding Natsu and trying to give him advice on how to go about the situation. They all turned their attention to him, scrunching up their faces in annoyance and glaring at the man.

"And how would you go about this?" Lucy asked, somewhat surprised when he stood, pulled up a chair, and sat down on the end of the table.

"Well, I did have to deal with her when she thought Natsu had broken up with her." He said, and Natsu growled at him, but otherwise didn't say anything. "Think of her like a guy. She likes to punch things when she's upset."

"How the hell do I get her to leave the bathroom in order to fight, though?"

"Call her names until she gets mad and leaves, or just bust the door down and take her out by force. When she's upset, she gets overly stubborn and tries to hurt herself in some way, so you have to rough her up a bit to get her out of her funk."

"That's stupid." Levy said, causing him to shoot her a glare.

"Give me 5 minutes with her and I'll have her back to normal."

"Insulting her and shoving her around is a stupid plan."

"Believe it or not, she _is_ a girl, and we girls deal with things different than guys. She may be tough, but she's had to go through a lot the past few years… I just don't think punching her is the best solution." Lucy spoke, thinking back to the previous night and their 'moment', wanting to help her. "On the other hand, a party might not be the best idea. If she wants to be alone, maybe we should just let her be."

"She may be a girl, but she sure as hell wasn't raised like you lot. Her mom trained her from birth to be a dragonslayer, so physical violence is the equivalent of a hug for her."

"Maybe I should talk to her?" Kana spoke up, causing Gajeel to glare at her.

"You have a death wish? You should be kicked out of the Guild for the crap you've put her through." The metal man seethed, causing an awkward silence to follow. Lucy silently wondered if Kasai had told him what happened, or if he was just guessing like the others.

"You're just a homophobic pig. Whatever happens between two consenting adults-"

"It's not consent when one of them is drugged."

"Heeey, let's get back on topic." Lucy spoke loudly, waving her hands wildly to try and get everyone's attention. "I vote that we all give her some space for the next few days and not bother her. All in favor say 'aye'. Aye!"

"What the hell are you two talking about?" Natsu asked, his arms crossed and looking back and forth between Kana and Gajeel.

Lucy sulked at being ignored, although did get one 'aye' from Happy.

"I don't know what he's talking about." Kana said, folding her arms over her chest.

"Don't play dumb. Kasai may care about keeping your image, but I sure as hell don't. You attacked her."

"Don't lie about me, you asshole!"

"Hypocrite!"

The others just watched them go back and forth, most of them wishing they had popcorn.

"You want to settle this? She made a statement to the police. I'm sure they'd be happy to show us the pictures."

"Statement about what?"

"Will you two just tell me what the hell is going on!? Did you hurt my girlfriend!?" Natsu yelled, finally fed up and standing on the table, hands enflamed and aimed at Kana. "What did you do to her?"

"I told you everything." She said, her eyes watering slightly, and giving him a puppy dog look.

He looked over at Gajeel. "Did _you_ hurt her?"

"Hey Natsu, I heard that Erza wants to fight you outback." Gray said, and watched as the flame brain ran off in excitement, completely side tracked from the conversation. "I don't know what you guys are talking about, or what you're doing, but you should knock it off."

"Let's go get ice cream!" Lucy exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air.

7.

"She still won't come out." Natsu said, two days later, slumped against the table looking depressed.

"Great plan, Lucy." Happy accused, causing the blond to glare at him. "Now Kasai and Natsu are depressed."

"Hey, it's not my fault!"

"Well you _did_ make her cry." Gray commented, causing her to redirect her glare at him.

"Hey, I was crying too, ya know! And it's not like I called her names and punched her." She said, giving a pointed look at Gajeel. "We had a heart to heart moment and then ran off when you two showed up!" Lucy defended, now pointing at Gray and Natsu, who sighed.

"Girl problems?" Makarov asked, suddenly joining the conversation. He sat on the end of the table that they were wall sitting at, his hands behind his back and knowing look on his face.

"Kasai locked herself in the bathroom." Happy explained, and the old wizard hummed.

"Well, considering the events over the past year, it's understandable. It seemed like she was handling it last I saw her." Makarov spoke, trying to think back to his last conversation with her. "Although, I suppose it makes more sense that she was bottling up her feelings and just not dealing with them at all."

"She's lost so many friends and family over the years… I only lost my dad, and that's been hard enough. I can't imagine losing so many friends like that." Lucy spoke.

"My family was killed when I young, and even though I miss them, I've been able to move on. That's probably because it happened when I was so little, though." Gray offered, and many people gave sympathetic nods.

"We've all been through a lot over the years." Kana commented.

"Kasai needs to know that she has friends. That she's not alone." Makarov finally stated.

"I'm leaving on a job tomorrow, so if you want me to help her…" Gajeel stated, causing Natsu to growl at him. "It's gotta be today. 5 minutes."

"You helped her when she thought Natsu broke up with her, right?"

"Something like that."

"No way I'm letting _you_ near her." Natsu said, glaring at him.

8.

"Go out for coffee or something." Gajeel ordered Natsu, causing the pink-haired boy to glare and fire up his fist.

"Don't tell me what to do, asshole!"

"Come on, Natsu. Kasai will be okay. Let's go grab some lunch." Lucy suggested, pulling at his arm.

"You do anything funny and I'll-"

"Yeah, yeah, just hurry up already." Gajeel interrupted, watching as the annoyed dragonslayer left the house with Lucy and Happy. Once they were far enough away, he returned his attention to the bathroom door. The light blue paint was chipping away and was poorly repaired, like they punched a hole in it and slapped some wood on it. "So you finally snapped, huh?" He asked after a moment, listening to her heart and breathing rate. "You have your boyfriend back. What the hell are you whining about now?"

"I didn't dodge." He heard her mutter, debating whether to break the door down now or let her talk. "I didn't dodge."

"Dodge what?"

"I didn't dodge… so I must not be alive. There's no point in living if I'm just going to fail and let others win."

"Is that something your mom told you?" He asked, the words sounding slightly familiar. She'd confided in him about her mother once or twice, and it sounded like something she would tell her.

No response.

"Well you're sure as hell not going to win if you stay in there." The dark-haired man said, now leaning against the frame of the door. "When we did our first mission together and found the blood dragon, you found out that your village had been slaughtered to power it. But you kept fighting, kicked some ass, and Lily and I had no idea that you were upset. You kept fighting and didn't dwell on it."

"I dodged." She replied softly, devoid of emotion.

"When you found Kana being attacked, you didn't just run and leave her there. You didn't just beat the guys up that attacked her and ditch her. You stayed with her, and protected her even when she fucked up."

"She dodged."

"When you thought Natsu had broken up with you, you didn't just hide in a corner. You killed a giant demon and saved hundreds of people's lives."

"But I didn't dodge." She replied, and the tone of her voice caused him to pause. It was slightly different than the other times she had said it, as if it referred specifically to what he had said.

Trying to remember anything specific about that mission, he finally asked, "You mean when I had to tackle you out of the way of his attack?"

"Yes."

He hit is head against the wall. "That's why you're upset? Because you hit your head and was disoriented for a _few seconds_?"

"I wasn't disoriented. I just… didn't dodge. I wanted to die."

"But you didn't. So why the hell are you dwelling on it like an idiot? We all fuck up at one point or another."

"When I mess up, people die."

"That's stupid. No one is perfect, and think about how many people would be dead if you didn't do anything. Now get your ass out here and quit hiding. More people will die if you just sit around doing nothing. You need to kick Kiken's ass."

"But I didn't dodge…"

"You're just going to let that asshole get away with killing your friends? For hurting you?"

She didn't say anything.

"He won't stop. He didn't stop when you asked, and he sure as hell won't stop now."

"Shut up."

"What, did I touch a nerve?" He asked, knowing full well the implications of his words. That memory that she can't shake, the one that haunts her dreams and bubbles to the surface leaving her immobilized in fear. Gajeel would never forget the look in her eye, the unshakable fear that lurked in her soul.

She didn't say anything.

"Either you get your ass out here, or I'm breaking down the door."

"… Don't tell me what to do." She finally said.

Gajeel smirked. "If you weren't being such a dumb ass, I wouldn't have to. Idiot."

"Say that to my face." She said, standing up, and he could hear her walking to the door.

"You're so easy."

1.

-Approximately 2 months ago, before Kasai started her blood magic training-

"What the…?" Gajeel grumbled after being startled awake, the warm body in his arms gone. It was cold, and she was an awesome heater.

As he opened his eyes, squinting and trying to look for her, they eventually adjusted to the lighting and located her on the floor.

"What's wrong?" He asked, the usual harshness in his voice gone. Lily wasn't there to tease him, and he was tired, so he was less inclined to put on the tough guy act.

"It won't get out." She gritted, shaking and pressing her palms to her temples. Her small body was curled up in the corner, in between the nightstand and wall. She shook as if she was freezing cold, and abruptly hit her head. "Damn it."

Gajeel crawled across the bed towards her, and took a seat on the floor in front of her. His legs were criss-crossed, and gaze soft as they rested on her shadowed face. When she hit herself again, he intervened before there was a third. As soon as his hands grabbed hold of her wrists her face became obscured by her knees.

Her heart rate increased, and he felt panic in her movements, so he let her go.

She didn't hit herself again, but she did press her hands back to her head. "I can't get it out."

"Bad dream?" He asked softly, surprising himself by how mushy he was acting towards her. Something about her actions made him think that brute force would only make things worse; even though it had worked in the past and he was particularly good at it.

"A memory." She croaked, her voice cracking. "No matter how hard I try to forget, how far I bury it, it always bubbles to the surface. O-once or twice a year it comes back."

"A memory, huh?" He spoke, sleepiness making him wonder if he was still dreaming.

"So much pain." She whispered, barely audible. He wouldn't have heard her if he didn't have such sensitive hearing.

"Why don't you just come back to bed and sleep it off." Gajeel said softly, reaching out and gently touching her arm. The skin contact caused the hairs on her arm to rise, the simple gesture settling her nerves.

She sat still, the shakes beginning to subside. "I can't…"

Curious, the man leaned in closer, trying to see her face. She sniffled. He could smell the salt from her tears. "I've never seen you cry before."

"I-I-I'm not cr-crying."

His hand, soft and warm, moved to her head and caressed her scalp. "I won't tell anyone if you are…. So long as you don't tell anyone that I'm being nice to you." He added, causing a small giggle to squeak from her swollen throat. Her clenched hand smashed into her temple again.

"It's still there. It won't stop."

"What won't?"

"I've never felt anything so painful. Nothing compares."

"What?"

"I was weak. I should have been smarter and figured it out sooner."

"Figured what out?"

"He used m-magic to make me feel that way. I felt so much pain… but I tried to ignore it." She spoke, her voice shaking and quivering with every word.

He grabbed her wrists to keep her from hitting herself again, starting to piece together what she was saying. "Kiken used magic to make you sleep with him, and because it was your first time, it hurt." Gajeel summarized, and although he tried to sound sensitive to her situation, she still gasped as if he had struck her.

"I've been stabbed more times than I can count none of them compared."

"I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I was just…" He tried to explain, but fell short on words. Beneath his hand, he felt her head rise, and saw her eyes for the first time.

This had to be a dream.

That look in her eyes couldn't be real.

He had no words to describe the expression he saw in her gaze, but it shook him to his core. She was a Fairy Tale wizard, capable of taking down entire Guilds and even beating him. Although he would never admit it, she was probably stronger than he was, and it unnerved him. If someone this powerful could be reduced to this shaking, crying, defenseless curled up little girl, what does that say about him?

Her dark eyes closed, a sigh escaping her soft pink lips. "I'm sorry for being so whiny. I'll be fine by tomorrow."

"You're a girl. You can get away with it."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"People will understand when you cry, or are emotional. Me on the other hand, if I show any weakness or interest in something feminine, I'm turned into a joke." The dark-haired man looked down at his bare feet, avoiding her surprised gaze.

He was opening up to her.

"Metalicana was a great dad… when he left, I didn't know what to do. I was alone. No one cared about me, and I didn't care about them." Gajeel continued, trying to keep his voice calm and steady. "Since I had been raised by a dragon, I didn't really understand the concept of gender. Why girls would be doted on, and cared for, but I was left alone."

His hand left her hair, moving to fidget with his other hand, picking at his pants. She watched him, quietly listening to his story.

"There was a girl, close to my age. She cursed like a sailor, did drugs, treated people like crap… we found each other roaming the streets. She offered me heroine… but when I tried it, the needle could pierce my skin."

In the next room, they could hear yelling. The motel walls were thin, and the couple next door were too loud. It made the silence slightly more bearable.

"I was only 7 years old, then, and didn't even know what it was that she was offering me. She said it would feel good, though."

"I can't imagine you as a drug addict." Kasai commented.

"People would give her money without giving it a second thought. They would look out for her, protect her, and even lie for her. Yet, when I asked for help… I got the door slammed in my face, or beaten up. I learned early on that in order to survive, I couldn't just ask people. I had to take it from them."

"If you ever need help, you can ask me." She told him softly, causing him to look up at her in surprise. Their brown eyes locked, looking at each other in the shadows with a nervousness creeping through their chests. "I can't save everyone, but it doesn't mean I won't try. If you ever need me I'll be there for you."

Her hand moved from her head for the first time and reached out to his. She interlaced their fingers together, an old smile fluttering to her face.


	23. Chapter 23

**Author's Note:** This chapter sticks pretty close to the movie, and I couldn't figure out exactly when the movie was relative to the show, so I just guessed.

* * *

 **Chapter 23**

 _Priestess of the Phoenix_

"If we wanna find these creeps, we've got to go up to that old fortress at the top of the hill!" Lucy exclaimed, hand pointing to the top of the hill and determination in her voice.

"You're pretty gun ho about this one, huh?" Gray asked, entertained by her enthusiasm for the job.

"You bet! We've been on a major hot streak lately, so this is gonna be a piece of cake!" She replied, getting Natsu fired up to complete the mission.

"Aw yeah! You ready to take out some bad guys, Happy?"

"Aye, sir!"

"Sounds like fun." Kasai commented, smiling at her enthusiastic friends. This was her third job with them in a row, and she found herself enjoying the happy-go-lucky nature of the group. Since she bounced around so many groups at the Fairy Tale for jobs, it was a rarity to join them on so many.

"All we have to do is find the boss, Geese, and bring him to the mayor. So much rent money!" Lucy explained, getting a weird expression on her face.

"Well come on, let's get going!" Kasai yelled as she ran ahead, the rest of the group following her lead with Lucy closest behind. As the blond started talking about the job Happy teased her about her 'crazy expression', causing her to get defensive and even more determined.

"Hey Erza?" Wendy asked after a while, causing the red head to look behind her at the young girl.

"Yes, what is it?"

"I don't know, but… doesn't this place seem too quiet?" She asked, and as if on cue, crowds of gang members jumped out of the houses and surrounded the group. Menacing snarls and cocky laughs met their ears, watching as they became completely surrounded.

"You jinxed us, Wendy." Kasai commented, surprised when the girl started to panic.

"I didn't mean to! I'm so sorry!" She cried, causing the red head to awkwardly step back.

"It was a joke, don't start crying!"

"You guys may want to focus on our surroundings a bit more." Gray commented, causing them to redirect their attention back to the crowd of men.

"Oh yeah. Hey guys, where's your boss? We have a flower delivery for him." Kasai spoke, grinning at them.

"We do?" Natsu asked in disbelief, causing everyone to stare at him.

"… No."

"Whose the idiot? Your boyfriend?" One of them asked, smirking at the pair. "If you ever want to upgrade…" He continued, wiggling his eyebrows and posing.

"Hey! She's my girlfriend!"

"Sucks to be her."

"I'm all fired up now!"

"Natsu," Erza interrupted. "Remember, we're after their boss. We only get the prize money if we get him."

"Yeah, yeah." He replied, gaze still glaring at the cocky man on the sidelines.

"Spread out!" Erza yelled, and all at once, the group dispersed.

Kasai found herself running down a random alleyway with several gang members behind her, enjoying the nice run. They yelled insults at her, but for the most part she just ignored them and continued on her merry way. Once she got far enough, she jumped onto the wall, launched herself on the other wall, and then spun to face them. "You think I'm hot, huh?" She asked, and launched a wall of fire at them. They all screamed, running and tripping over themselves to try and escape.

When Kasai gracefully landed back on the ground, she found herself facing the one standing opponent. The others were on the ground roasting and unconscious.

"You still want a piece of me, huh?" She asked, smirking. The flames danced around her hands and arms, making her look more menacing. Her cloak was tucked away in the backpack on her back.

Strange objects began floating around him, and in surprise, she realized that it was blood magic.

The man pulled a sword out from his decorated sheath, the black blade shining in extremely odd ways. It somehow looked alive.

Magical energy pulsated from him in waves.

"Blood magic is lethal, you know." She commented. "Are you even part of the gang that attacked us? Or did you just blend in?"

"Kiken sends his regards." He spoke, and vanished.

Her eyes widened, not knowing where he went, and suddenly felt a pain in her two shoulders; shortly afterward, two objects hit the ground, along with her backpack. "Nice trick." The woman complimented, watching as the wizard reappeared in his original spot, a cocky smirk on his face.

"You have no chance against me without your arms." He spoke, referring to her two limbs on the ground. "Forfeit, and come with me."

"Hmmm, that does sound tempting and all," She spoke, the arms next to her feet levitating and attaching themselves back to her shoulders. The expression on the man's face was priceless. "but I don't think that's going to happen."

Before he could disappear again, her roots had taken hold of his feet, preventing his movement. The tree magic sucked away at his magic, strengthening it and causing it to climb up and further wrap itself around him. "No! This isn't possible!" He tried to cut away the vines using his blade, but only succeeded in cutting himself and slightly delaying the uneviteable.

"If you minions didn't self-destruct every time I asked questions, I would interrogate you, but don't feel like taking your life." She explained, looking relaxed even though her arms were immobile. The man dropped his sword. "So… tootles." The red head said, and ran off again to find Geese.

When she found the other wizards of her team, she walked in on Natsu and Gray playing catch with one of the gang members. She couldn't help but feel bad for the guy, who was constantly being hit by ice and fire magic.

"You guys have any luck finding Geese?" Kasai asked the group, the two wizards playing catch responding with a distracted 'no'.

"What's with your arms?" Erza asked, noticing that they looked unnatural as they swayed with the woman's movements.

"I got both of them cut off, so it's going to be a while before I regain feeling." She replied.

"You what!?" Natsu overheard, and got hit by the guy Gray had thrown at him. The fire breather fell to the ice below, screaming for Kasai as he slid down the icey hill.

"I'll go get him." Kasai stated and jumped after him before anyone could object, sliding gracefully down the slide as if she were ice skating.

1.

"You've been unusually happy today." Natsu commented that evening, smiling up at his girlfriend in bed. After socializing with their friends a bit at the Guild Hall, the couple had disappeared in a hurry to get back home. The woman smirked at him, straddling his hips with her legs and gently brushing the tips of her fingers with his chest. "I thought you would have been bummed after failing the job. You're usually upset when…"

He shuddered under her, enjoying the sensations and losing his train of thought. "What can I say? It's been a good few weeks." She said, and leaned down to kiss him.

2.

When Natsu and Kasai got back to the Guild Hall, it turned out that they had a strange visitor.

Lucy sat across from a young woman with long brunette hair, tied back with an unusual white bandage. Golden hoops dangled from her ears, and cold brown eyes stared at the table. An empty bowl was in front of her, and most of their team was trying to converse with the newcomer. "Friend of yours?" Kasai asked Lucy.

"I found her passed out on the street." She explained, and the red head nodded.

Kasai couldn't help but stare at the stranger, something about her being off. The red head walked up to her, unusually nosy, trying to get a good look at her. "Something is off about you."

"Hey, don't be rude!" Natsu told her, putting a hand on her shoulder and pulling her back. With reluctance she complied, crossing her arms and taking a seat at the bar with the others.

"Her blood is odd…" She muttered, still staring at the young girl.

Erza looked back and forth between Eclaire and Kasai, wondering what the wizard was talking about. It was rare for her to act so suspicious around someone, or at least so openly.

Kasai slumped over the counter, trying to figure out what was so odd about her. Her brown eyes kept locked on the stranger, watching her every movement and paying extra attention to everything she said.

3.

Natsu ended up dragging her along on the adventure, much to her dislike. When they ended up on the train the next day she had to comfort Natsu as he lay on his side and used her lap as a pillow. He lay there, on the verge of puking, and trying to focus on the fingers that combed through his pink fluffy hair.

Gray kept his feet out of the way of Natsu's potential puking path, but Kasai suspected that her lap was a more likely target. It wouldn't be the first time.

"Help…. Me…" Natsu pleaded to Wendy, reaching out for her but ultimately plopping back onto Kasai's lap.

"Don't worry, Gray. He's more likely to puke on me than you. I've discovered and accepted that I'm just a vomit magnet." The red head told Gray, causing the surrounding people to wrinkle their noses in disgust.

"… That sucks." The ice man told her, and she sighed, looking back down at her miserable boyfriend.

"Help…" He pleaded.

She leaned down and kissed his forehead, trying to make him more comfortable for the journey. As she comforted him, she eaves dropped on Lucy and Eclaire's conversation, hoping to figure out what was so weird about her. Other than the woman's amnesia, Kasai couldn't figure out what was so different about it, and it ate away at her.

"You're really annoyed by her, aren't you?" Gray asked for a while, noticing that the red head was staring at Eclaire again.

"She's really a good person!" Momon told her, causing Kasai's cheeks to blush in embarrassment. "She's just not good at socializing!"

"It's not that. I'm sorry for being so rude and staring." Kasai told him, giving him a kind smile. "It could easily be a biological thing that's different about her, or maybe I've seen her before…. I was trained by a blood dragon, so I'm extra sensitive to abnormal genetics."

"Seriously?" Erza asked, surprised. "You can sense genetic abnormalities?"

"Weeell, to an extent. If I taste someone's blood, I can tell you their type, origin, and a bunch of other random facts."

"You drink blood?" Lucy asked, sticking her tongue out at her.

"Well, it is my element. I also eat fire, too." Kasai replied, smiling, and laughing at the blonde's expression.

"Maybe Eclaire doesn't like magic users because she thinks we're all vampires like you."

"Tch, whatever. People misuse magic all the time for their own evil purposes. That's why there are balancing forces in nature to make sure that there are just as many good wizards as bad ones." She explained, surprised when Eclaire looked up at her, truly meeting her gaze for the first time.

4.

"This town is awesome!" Natsu yelled, voicing the thoughts of his group. They all gawked and stared at the magical events surrounding them, from the magic flying carpets to magical teapots, it was the motherload of magical items. "Let's get some food!" The pink-haired boy cheered, Happy saying his usual 'Aye Sir!' and running off after him.

"What a bone head…" Gray commented, watching the pair run off down the street.

"I'm surprised he didn't wait up for you, Kasai." Erza commented, chuckling at the woman's nonchalant shrug.

"He would just try to make me pay for all of his food. I'll see him later."

"So we all know where we're staying, right?" Erza asked the group, making sure that everyone nodded and repeated their hotel name. "Let's have fun."

The group dispersed, going off in different directions to explore the magical city. Most of them had never been there before, so it was a sight to behold and marvel at.

Kasai instantly tried to locate any magical book shops, in order to find some lost magic books to make up for the lack of access to her Buddhist Temple library. She wandered the shelves of the old shops, skimming pages and getting weird looks from fellow book lovers, and when she finally found a few books that looked decent, found herself having to haggle with the clerks for close to thirty minutes.

By the end of the night, she had collected only three books after having explored 10 shops, only moderately pleased with her find.

Nothing could replace the thousand year old books that she had access to as a child.

They were lost forever.

Kasai groaned, thinking about the library that burned to the ground, and how much knowledge would never be passed down again. Her gaze met the starry sky above her, and then at the cobblestone ground, ignoring the shops that were turning their lights out as she passed by them.

She was walking down an empty alleyway when her necklace suddenly started glowing and levitating in front of her and to the side. "Lucy?" The woman asked, and then heard screaming in the distance. Immediately she started running towards her, dodging the crowd, and taking shortcuts in alley ways.

When she finally found Lucy, she was on the ground with Eclaire, looking up at the sky fearfully at a dark shadow. "Lucy!" Kasai called out, and threw a fireball at the dark figure just as Natsu did the same, hitting the assailant midfall and causing him to divert his initial attack. Gray also sent ice blades at him that were easily dodged.

"Who the hell are you!?" Natsu yelled, standing in front of Lucy in a protective stance. Kasai ran to stand next to him, her fire magic still blazing.

"Knowing will not help you." The cloaked figure spoke, and then started running off.

"You're not getting away that easily!" Kasai yelled, using her tree magic to try and trip him, but failing. They trio started running after him at full speed, turning into various alleyways and forced into a particular one with long fabrics hanging to dry. The red head was too frustrated to simply run through them, so she sliced the frabrics in front of her in order to make a clear passageway. Natsu wasn't as lucky and ended up falling into one of them, falling to the ground and rolling to a stop.

Gray and Kasai kept going, Gray getting a kick in the chest and Kasai a blade to her arm. Just like the other man she had fought recently, this fighter had an unusual blade that pierced through her blood magic and cut her arm off. "I really wish you guys would stop doing that!" She yelled at him, trying to lash out at him with her blood magic, but he used his blade to deflect and jump out of the way. When he was immersed in shadows again, he disappeared without a trace.

Natsu finally caught up, his fire magic blazing, and looking around for him. "Where the hell did he go!?"

"What happened to your arm!?" Gray yelled, suddenly noticing the woman's arm twitching on the ground. Natsu screamed out in fright too, falling over from the shock.

"Where did that bastard go!? I'm going to kill him!" The fire man yelled, instantly jumping back up and looking around for the cloaked man.

"Relax, I'm fine."

"HE CUT YOUR ARM OFF!" Gray yelled pointing at it, watching in shock as the woman shrugged with her shoulders and bent down to pick it up, simply reattaching the limb to her shoulder joint. With a sickening 'pop' and weird grinding sounds, the arm began reattaching itself.

"When I said Eragon tore me limb from limb, I wasn't joking. It's one of the benefits of being a blood magic user." She said with a smile, laughing at his shocked expression.

"That is messed up."

"Where is that asshole!?" Natsu continued yelling nearby.

"I won't regain full control over it for another couple of hours. It takes a while to sync up all the nerves." She explained, and then finally looked back over to Natsu. "Honey, he's gone. Let's go back to Lucy and Eclaire."

"But he cut your… but he…" He stammered, pointing at her now reattached arm.

He stood there utterly confused, and staring at the limb with wide eyes. Kasai walked over to him and took his hand in her still working one. "Let's go check on Lucy and Eclaire." She repeated, tugging him along and walking with Gray back to the girls.

Once they rejoined the group, they started asking questions and trying to figure out what happened.

Unfortunately for Lucy, as she tried to explain, her towel fell off.

Kasai covered Natsu's eyes, her own cheeks red from the sight.

"What?" Lucy suddenly asked, confused by the weird stares she was getting and frustrated by their lack of response.

"You feel a breeze out here, Lucy?" Happy asked her, snickering, and causing the blond to freak out and sit with her arms covering her chest.

5.

"This is my kind of magic." Kasai grinned once the hologram had ended, resting her hands behind her head and thinking back to the text she had once read about the Phoenix stone. She was joyfully oblivious to the sadness around her.

"Would you stop smiling? This is a sad moment." Natsu told her, nudging her slightly with his elbow.

"Well, while you guys are being sad and shit, I'm going to start perusing these books for helpful information about the Phoenix Stone. Which, I'm guessing Eclaire would like me to do, since she had no memory of it and dispelling the stone was her father's dying work."

"Whatever, go nuts." Natsu said with a roll of his eyes, feeling sympathetic to the young girl that was reaching out to the empty space her father had just been.

"Father…." Eclaire whispered, tears in her eyes.

6.

"You didn't have to be so rude earlier." Natsu commented after the others had left, the only people remaining in the room being Natsu, Gray, and Kasai. Kasai had her notebook out, taking notes as she perused the books, a giddy smile on her face. "I'd think you of all people would be sympathetic to her situation."

"Yeah, yeah. People die." She waved off, now jumping up and going back to the shelf to grab several other books. When she sat back down she was surrounded by five open books, somehow looking even nerdier than Levy.

"It doesn't make you sad at all that Eclaire just saw her father for the last time? That he's dead?"

"For all we know, she's discovered that knowledge hundreds of times." She replied, finally looking up at him with her legs folded beneath her and slanted frown on her face.

"What do you mean?" Gray asked, curious by her statement.

"She has serious memory loss. She could have wandered to this temple several times, seen that message, and forgotten about it two days later. For that matter, if she doesn't remember him, why does she care so much about him?" She asked the pair, neither of whom had a good answer. Her shoulders gave a weak shrug. "When there's so many questions, I try not to get emotionally invested in the situation in order to collect as much data as possible."

"So you just don't care about her?" Natsu asked, a sad look in his eye. She snorted, hating that look.

"Natsu, leave her alone. She's doing more to help Eclaire right now than you are, and is probably the best person to be going through these notes. Once we know what kind of danger Eclaire is in, we can do more to help her."

"How can you not care?" Natsu repeated, completely ignoring his teammate.

"Did you not hear anything I just-" Gray tried to yell at him, but stopped short when Kasai started talking, venom dripping from her cold voice.

"What the hell do you want from me, Natsu?!" She snapped at him, causing him to blink back in surprise. "Lucy and Momon are with Eclaire right now comforting her, and I'm only here because you asked me to come along, doing my best to help her the best way I can. I'm sorry for actually enjoying part of this stupid mission! If you want to sort through these 400 year old books, half of which is in an ancient dialect or coded, be my guest!" She yelled, throwing one of the books at him and hitting his head. A red mark appeared on his forehead as he stared at her, his eyes wide and cheeks slightly pinkened.

"You really didn't want to come?" He asked after a moment, watching as she folded her arms over her chest. "Then why are you here?"

"Because you asked me to, idiot!"

"Maybe you should have stayed home if you're going to act like this!" He told her, and the words caused her to pause. Her chest hurt, the idea of him not wanting her there making her sick. After so much time apart, the idea of being separated again caused her eyes to tear up.

"Natsu," Gray spoke up, trying to calm them down. "How about we go get some air while Kasai works? We can help out later after she's…" His voice drifted off, watching the red head storm out of the room.

The ice man slapped him over the head.

"Idiot."

"Hey, what the hell was that for!?"

"Go after her and apologize."

"No way!" He yelled back, now standing and ready to punch him.

"What is with you, man? Ever since you two got back together, you keep doing things to push her away. You know damn well that she doesn't like Eclaire, but you still asked her to come with us. She's done nothing to helpful and supportive and you act like a jack ass."

"Shut up!" Natsu yelled, dealing with his confusing emotions like he usually does: punching the person nearest him.

"I'm going home." Kasai told Erza, who was sitting by a wall and watching Lucy and Eclaire. The red head looked up at her, surprised by the suddenness.

"Why?"

"Natsu is an idiot. If you need anything I'll be at the Guild." She said, but as she turned to leave, Erza grabbed her hand.

"Hey, what's going on?" She tried to ask, but Kasai pulled her hand away and kept walking. "Kasai, please. We need your help with this mission."

Kasai stopped walking, back to her, staring at a partial wall and chewing on her lip. She heard fighting downstairs in the room below, and deadpanned when she felt the floor beneath her begin cracking. "Idiots." She muttered, and then her body fell with the floor, thoroughly collapsing the home of Eclaire's dead father.

"Are you guys alright!?" Erza yelled through the dust, coughing on the dirt as it entered her lungs.

Gray had created an ice shield at the last second, protecting them from the rubble. Kasai had landed near them, laying on the jagged rocks and staring up at the dusty air. "Idiots." She muttered.

7.

"Natsu!" Kasai cried out, watching her boyfriend be pummeled by flying rocks. The Guild Hall had just been attacked, and as the dust settled, she could see the attackers more clearly. "Keep your rocks off of my boyfriend!" She yelled, and made a piece of her blood magic fly out and wrap around his wrists, sucking away the magical energy and causing him to pass out.

"Hello hello," Another man stated as he jumped to replace him, smirking as he readied his blade to attack her.

"Not you again." She muttered, making her molasses spell extra strong to try and capture him. The new attacker was the one from her mission to retrieve Geese, and he still had the same blade with him.

Other battles started happening with the Guild Members and the attackers, but Kasai tried to focus on this one wizard.

He disappeared.

She gasped, realizing he'd somehow gotten past her shield.

"Kasai!" Natsu screamed, watching in horror as his love fell to the ground in pieces, blood spurting everywhere. The man that attacked her stood over her corpse, looking down at her with a smile on his face and blood on his sword. "I'm going to kill you, you bastard!" He yelled, but fell on his face when something caught his ankle. When he looked down to try and see what was stopping him, he realized that it was a piece of Kasai's blood magic.

To her attacker, it seemed that his foot was caught between two rocks, so he merely chuckled and began walking away. "Mission completed."

Fairy Tale looked on in horror, not being able to do anything as their best fighters were defeated and Eclaire was taken.

8.

"Eclaire! Kasai!" Lucy screamed, running forward and falling a few yards short of Kasai's bloody body.

Several other members ran forward to see if the red head was as dead as she looked for away, and gasped in horror at the sight.

That was nothing to the screams and jumps that resulted when her body started moving, as if possessed, and sat in a mangled upright position with her head hanging limp. Her legs were folded beneath her, sitting on her knees, and slowly her limbs and body parts started repairing themselves. The enemy had sliced her pretty bad, almost every body part cut into several pieces.

"What the hell?!" Droy yelled, confused by the sight. "Her head was cut in half!"

"She's a blood dragonslayer. It doesn't matter how many times someone cuts her, she'll always be able to pull herself back together." Gray told everyone, holding his midsection in pain while Juvia supported him. "When her arm was cut off, it took a few hours for it to work again, so it might take a while until she's mobile again."

Natsu ran to her, tripping along the way on rocks and debris, eventually finding himself sitting in front of her. He smashed his forehead against hers, ignoring the crunching sound her skull made and looking into her dead eyes hiding behind her hair. "I'm going to make them pay!" The boy yelled, not surprised when he didn't receive an answer. He sat cross-legged, his hands in fists on his knees, and otherwise motionless. "Those bastards destroyed out Guild Hall and kidnapped one of our friends! They nearly killed Kasai! They are messing with the wrong Guild, and they are going to pay for this!"

The rest of Fairy Tale began helping the injured and regrouping, giving the couple and Lucy sympathetic stares. There were only a handful of uninjured Guild members.

It was sometime later that a familiar voice reached their ears from the 'entrance' of the building, causing everyone to look up. "How unfortunate. They gave us a beating that we won't soon forget…" Makarov spoke upon seeing the damage that had been caused.

Natsu turned around to face him, Kasai's blood smeared on his forehead. "Damn right. So what are we going to do about it?" He asked the old man, Happy appearing behind him.

"Is that Kasai?" Gajeel asked, standing next to Makarov and looking at the grotesque figure behind the fire breather.

"Yeah, she was hit worse than any of us." Erza replied as she walked up to the Guild Master, then bowing her head and apologizing for not being able to protect the Guild Hall.

"Huh." Gajeel responded, and walked over to her, watching in curiosity as the blood and tissue moved beneath her flesh. "Cool. Never thought I'd actually see this spell in action." He said, noticing that her scalp was moving too. "I definitely don't want to be around when she comes to."

9.

When Kasai's body had finished healing, she found herself in someone's arms, sitting on their lap. The voices of her friends met her ears, along with the familiar sounds of the train.

"It's about time you woke up." Gajeel told her, noticing that she was finally coming to. "I wondered if you would be out for the whole trip."

"Where are we?" She asked, suddenly feeling the arms around her waist tightening and familiar nuzzle on the back of her shoulder.

"Morning sleepy head. How are you feeling?" Natsu asked, relieved that she had finally woken up. The others had tried to convince her that she would be okay, but despite their reassurances, he couldn't help but worry.

"Tired. Why are we on a train?"

"We're going to Veronica to save Eclaire and stop the Phoenix Stones from being united." Gajeel answered, and began catching her up on all of the info she had missed.

10.

Kasai was grouped with Lucy, running down the streets as fast as they could with Wendy, Lily and Carla at their sides. The streets were packed, filled with people celebrating and laughing, oblivious to the danger that would soon fall upon the city.

Kasai heard an explosion in the distance, and knew that the fighting had begun.

When their path suddenly became blocked by guards, they all stopped, facing their enemy. "Wendy and I will handle this. You two go on ahead." Panther Lily told them, growing to his human size and grabbing the sword on his back.

"I owe you one." Lucy told them, and with no time to waste, the two wizards set off again. "I know you don't like her, Kasai, but I promised to protect her!"

"I'll do everything in my power to help you. Just keep running." Kasai replied, surprising the blonde, but eventually she nodded and returned her attention to their goal.

"Those guys ahead-!"

"Don't worry about them, just keep moving. Mud Magic: sinkhole!" Kasai yelled, jumping onto her hands to cast the spell into the ground but moving back to her feet with her momentum. The guards in front of them sunk into the ground, allowing them to continue past.

"Nice job!" Lucy complimented.

"Thanks." She replied, trying to think of a strategy in case more Blood Guild members tried to attack again. Since they had attacked her twice now, it meant that Kiken wanted her out of the picture bad, and was likely connected to the King trying to get his hands on the Phoenix Stone. If he managed to get his hands on that power, there's no telling what kind of destruction he could do.

Lucy and Kasai finally come to the center of town, the crowd of people infront of them watching the scene unfold. A blond man wearing a crown stood before them, uniting the stones right as they arrived, and the girl they had been searching for was burning at a stake. "Eclaire!" Lucy screamed, and in order to get there quicker, Kasai pulled Lucy into her arms, using her magic to jump over the crowd of people and land in front of Eclaire.

"You will not interfere!" A voice screamed, and Kasai pushed Lucy out of the way just in time before her mother leaped forth and attacked her. Kasai took the full force of the blow, skidding back from the force and a new red mark on her forehead.

"Lucy, don't get distracted and help her!" Kasai yelled at the girl who sat there shocked, but it was too late. Someone else casted a wind spell that caused all of them to fly back, and as Kasai braced for it, her mom took the opportunity to punch her again, making her fly back and smash against a wall. "Damn it, mom!"

"Don't speak to your mother that way!" The woman yelled, running at her again but missing and hitting the wall instead. Kasai took the opportunity to shove her palm into the woman's head, shooting out her blood magic and scrambling her brains. Her body disappeared into a dust, just as before.

The fire woman jumped out of the way as another dead friend came at her, David, and quickly did the same to him. "You should have stayed dead, little Kasai!" Kiken, standing on the sidelines, yelled at her with an evil grin on his face. He summoned several other dead soldiers, using keys much like celestial keys, but carved out of bone.

"Shit." Kasai groaned, dodging an attack and trying to find an opening to save Eclaire, but instead being shot into the air and forced half a mile away. When she looked up, the light of the Phoenix was emerging, and she knew that she had failed.

Kiken kept her plenty busy as the beast began destroying the town, summoning practically every resource he had in order to keep her at bay. She fought strangers, friends, family, but ultimately they were no match for her blood magic, which pierced their skulls and tore them apart from the inside out. The panicking people ran through the streets, and buildings shook and crumbled around her.

"What is your plan with the Pheonix?!" Kasai asked, finally reaching him, but breathing hard and already tired. She had an enormous amount of magical energy at the moment, from absorbing all the magic from her opponents, but her body was immensely tired and wouldn't be able to handle the strain for much longer.

"The Phoenix will absorb all of the energy from the land, and shoot it into the sky! When that happens, I will collect it, and there's nothing you can do about it!" He yelled, running at her in a direct assault for the first time, and trying to hit her. They both began fighting as they had been taught as children, throwing punches, dodging, kicking and slicing.

She landed a kick, making him skid backwards hunched over. "Not if I can help it, and I'm going to take you down once and for all!" She yelled, rushing forward and punching him in the face with her enflamed fist, watching him fly backwards into a building wall. It crushed from his impact, and crushed even more when she landed a second blow.

Kasai jumped back, and realized that she had just destroyed a dummy.

Her gaze moved to the giant beast looming over the city, and the various magics attacking it, along with the dragonslayer battling on the top of it. "If he absorbs that magic and uses it to power a weapon…" She spoke to herself, trying to catch her breath as she planned her next move.

She looked down at her hand, watching it shake, and clenched it into a fist.

When she worked with Eragon, she learned how to make blood magic incredibly more efficient at absorbing and storing magic. Theoretically, if she got to it before Kiken, she could absorb the energy and store it in her blood.

Even if it killed her, the magic would be sealed, the only people able to access it being her and Eragon.

Her eyes met the fiery sky again, and she saw a floating ship in the sky.

It was the device that would absorb the monster's energy, and it was heading towards it. Her legs moved on their own, jumping up to the roof of a building to get a better look at the damage taking place. She noticed Natsu finish his battle on the Phoenix, and in amazement, watched all of Fairy Tale begin attacking the monster.

The drain was subtle enough that she doubted anyone else noticed it, but as soon as she began feeling it, she started running towards it. Leaping across rooftops, moving as fast as her feet could carry her, she moved towards the abomination beginning to create a massive ball of energy above it.

The smell of blood and ash stung her nose, her lungs hurting from all the particles in the air. "Kasai!" Natsu waved from above, and watched in horror as another wizard jumped up and kicked her mid air, causing her to painfully collide with the ground. As the wizard jumped down after her, she caught him off guard by standing up so quickly and punching him back with all of her strength, forcing him to shoot towards the Phoenix, colliding with the creature and bouncing off in a random direction.

An arrow was shot at the giant monster, and it cried out, suddenly flailing and thrashing its arms.

The blood dragonslayer narrowly managed to escape being crushed, Lily swooping in and saving her at the last second. "Need a lift?" He asked her as they soared, causing her to smile up at him.

"Thanks Lily!" She said, and looked up in horror at the energy that soared into the sky, the machine already beginning to absorb its power. "Get me as close to that as you can!"

"Are you nuts?!"

"Get me as close as you can and I'll take care of the rest!" She requested, and although he had no idea what she was planning, started flying upwards into the sky.

Once they got close enough, she thanked him again, and used her blood magic to create her own set of wings.

"Get to safety!"

"What about you?!"

"I'll be fine!" She said with a grin, and then soared into the air as fast as she could, heading straight for the ball of pure magical energy, blood magic ready. Tears fell from her eyes as she flew towards her, feeling the incredible strength it emanated, and suddenly thought of Star and Comet.

11.

After Natsu shoved the arrow into the eye, he looked up at the sky to see that the ball of energy was still there, along with a giant ship that he hadn't see before. The Pheonix below him began crumbling, and yet, the magic weapon stayed powered in the sky.

She saw Panther Lily carrying Kasai and flying towards it.

"Kasai!" Natsu screamed out, watching her fly higher and higher into the sky, and eventually disappear from sight. Happy managed to catch him as the Pheonix began falling apart, but he kept his gaze on the slowly disappearing fireball in the sky. "Kasai is up there!"

"What?! She can't be!" Happy yelled back, trying to fly while also looking up at the sky.

A few seconds later, the magical ball of energy was gone, and in its place, a young girl. The ship was heavily damaged, sparks flying from it and beginning to lose altitude, heading for the mountains.

"Kasai!" Natsu yelled out, watching the woman fall so fast, and smiled when he saw a familiar cat fly to her rescue.

"You had me worried, fireball." Panther Lily said, smiling at having caught her. "You okay?"

She didn't answer, but he hoped that she was simply unconscious. He and Happy both flew the fire dragonslayers back to the others, who were grouped together. Lucy was crying on the ground.

Natsu took Kasai in his arms when they landed, running over to Wendy. "You need to heal her!" He said as he set her down, staring at her sleeping face with worried eyes.

"I can't use my healing magic on her, Natsu." Wendy replied sadly. "She appears to be okay, though. She's still breathing and her heartrate is normal."

At this, Natsu smiled, and pulled Kasai into a hug.

"We lost her… we lost Eclaire…" Lucy sobbed from nearby, and Natsu looked up at her, now noticing her tears. "Natsu… does magic only cause sadness? Is that really true?" She asked him. Everyone looked at her in sorrow, heart breaking at her tears. "There's gotta be a way... it can make me stop crying too." She stepped forward and fell to her knees, next to Natsu and Kasai. Her gaze rested on the sleeping red head, even more sorrow filling her heart at the sight of her injured friend.

Suddenly she felt something tug on her neck, and looked down to find her necklace glowing.

"But… I didn't say your name…" She whispered, looking at the matching necklace around the unconscious woman's neck. It glowed just as bright, and both of the necklaces gravitated towards each other like magnets.

"I thought that was only supposed to activate when you were trying to find each other?" Natsu asked, looking back and forth between them.

"It is. We're supposed to say the other person's name into the crystal."

"So why is it glowing like that?" Natsu asked, confused, and Lucy noticed something.

The woman's hand reached forward and touched Kasai's shoulder, the strange markings suddenly reacting to her touch. "What is that?" Wendy asked, leaning in closer to look at it.


	24. Chapter 24

**Author's Note:** The last chapter was movieverse, and this one is back to the show. They didn't quite line up (destroyed guild hall) but otherwise they flowed smoothly.

As always, thank you everyone for the reviews, follows, and faves! 3

 **Chapter 24**

 _A Broken Mind_

"She's in a temporary coma caused by dark magic." Makarov explained when they returned to the Guild Hall, the young woman laying on the extra cot in the other room. The other Fairy Tale wizards had gathered around him, listening to his words closely. "The spell is going through her memories and shifting her alignment from good to evil."

"Was it caused by the Phoenix?" Gray asked, and the Guild Master shook his head.

"No, this was caused by a wizard. Most likely Kiken."

"How do we help her?" Lucy asked, her eyes watery and bloodshot from all the tears.

"I'm not sure that we can… she's likely fighting a great battle inside of herself right now."

"What if we used my telepathy magic to help her?" Warren spoke up, causing everyone to look at him hopefully.

"Can you really do that!?" Natsu asked, and Warren smirked.

"Well, I did learn a spell that allows people to hold meetings in their head. For example, if you and Lucy closed your eyes, I could transport you into Lucy's mind, or vice versa." He explained, and Makarov looked at him in contemplation.

"That just might work…" The old man muttered, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "There's risk involved, though. We don't know the specifics of the spell or if it's booby trapped. Anyone that goes in there risks not coming out, or having the spell affect them in some way."

"I'll do it!" Natsu said, pumped. "Let's go already!"

"Aye!"

"Me, too." Lucy said, stepping forward.

"I'm in." Gray added.

"Before any of you guys go in," Gajeel spoke up, getting their attention. "Remember there is probably a lot of dark stuff in that girl's head. She's seen a lot of messed up things in her life."

"I don't care, we have to help her!" Natsu yelled back at him, anxious to get moving.

"He's got a point, Natsu." The ice man said, turning to face him. "If you're going to go in there, you need to prepare yourself for what you might find. She hasn't exactly been upfront to everyone about some of the crap in her past, and I wouldn't be surprised if she hasn't told you everything."

"What the hell would she tell you that she wouldn't tell me!?"

"Well I wouldn't exactly be a good listener if I blabbed all of her secrets, now would I? Look, there were just a few things that she didn't want to tell you or the rest of the Guild because of your temper."

"Aaaagh, whatever! Let's just go!" The fire boy yelled, jumping up and down.

1.

Warren could only transport 4 minds at once, meaning that Happy had to stay behind. (much to Natsu's dismay) Lucy, Natsu, Gajeel, and Gray all found themselves on an odd floating platform.

The space around them was black but filled with stars, like the night sky. It was calm, peaceful, and they could see a waning crescent moon in the distance.

The platform, hovering in seemingly deep space, was about 30 feet wide. On one side of it was a young girl with red hair who was busy moving her hands across a floating screen. The screen was filled with rectangular boxes, all of which seemed to be video of various things.

"Welcome to my mind." Kasai greeted, her hair long and tied back in a braid. She didn't bother turning to look back at them, too busy trying to maneuver the screens, but she did nudge the basket of muffins with her foot towards them. "Muffins?"

"Kasai, do you know what's happening?" Lucy asked as they walked towards her, and after a moment, the red head finally turned to face them. A bright smile was stretched across her face, bright brown eyes meeting theirs. Her hand fluttered to the basket handle, gracefully, and pulled it up to them.

She looked to be around 14 years old, wearing raggedly clothing, which Natsu recognized as the clothes she wore when they first met. "Of course. Muffins?"

"Muffins?" Gajeel asked, wrinkling his nose.

"You four have a long battle ahead of you. I thought you might like something to keep your energy up. They're organic."

"No thank you." Lucy said politely and bowing her head. When no one bothered to take one, she set the basket back on the ground, her hands clasping behind her.

"What is this place?" Natsu asked, looking around curiously. "Are we in space?"

"This is my base of operations. It will take a bit of explaining for you to understand." She started. "The dark spell has shattered my mind. My personality has been split into different times of my life in order for the dark magic to systematically conquer my mind and take hold. Essentially, darkness is attacking me at various stages in my life when I felt particularly vulnerable to it, and changing my positive outlook to dark."

"I'm so confused…" Natsu said.

She giggled. "I'm 14. To me, we only recently met…. Anyway, because it's attacking specific times in my life when I was vulnerable, I have versions of myself helping my weaker self be stronger. For example, when my mother died, I was particularly sad and upset. Because I wanted to avenge her, the dark magic is drawn to that feeling, and will try to consume her."

"So we have to try and save her? Uh, you?" Lucy asked, and Kasai nodded.

"We are trying to gather as many 'me's as we can for the final battle, when my dark and good sides will fight. Whichever wins will decide my fate." She explained, her cheerful disposition never failing.

"So we need to protect you from the dark magic?" Gajeel asked, and she nodded.

"Once I get you going, it'll be easier to grasp. I already have places picked out for each of you." She said, and then turned again, pulling them up on her screen. "Natsu, go through that door." The girl said, and pointed at the door that appeared out of nowhere on the edge.

"Alright!" Natsu yelled, and ran towards it without a second thought.

"I never thought your mind would be so… organized." Gray commented, watching as another door appeared.

"Gajeel, this one is yours. Good luck." She said. "Remember everyone: for every one that you save from darkness, the stronger I'll be to defeat the spell. If you can, bring them back here, or if they're strong enough I'll send them to other parts of my past to counter the darkness."

2.

"I don't know what's going on, but I'm going to save you, Kasai!" Natsu yelled after finding himself in a clearing, his fire magic activating. He looked around for her, and eventually found a person on fire on the other side of the clearing. "Kasai!" He screamed running towards her.

When he got closer, he realized that the fire woman wasn't his girlfriend, but actually an older woman that looked similar to her. In front of her was a child, shaking, sobbing into the ground. On the skin that he could see, she was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, were bruises and cuts.

"Kasai, look at me when I speak to you." The older woman demanded, watching as the little girl with long red hair looked up at her, tears in her eyes.

Natsu watched, confused, beginning to realize that Kasai was the little girl.

"You are the daughter of a dragonslayer. You will not cry." The woman's fire began blazing and getting brighter, the magical power emanating from her so strong that Natsu could feel it. "It is a sign of weakness. I am going to power all of my magical energy into my arm, and if it hits you, you will die."

"Hey, what the hell?!" Natsu yelled at her, causing them both to look at him. "You're her mom, right?"

"Yes."

"And you just threatened to kill her? What the hell?!"

"She has to learn how to stand when she's weak. If she learns anything from my training, I want her to learn one thing: to dodge."

"Well that's stupid." Natsu said, his own fire magic blazing. "How about you try that crap on me and see how it turns out?" He asked, smirking, and looking forward to the fight. "Don't worry, Kasai, this meanie is going down!"

3.

Gray thought that he would be entering a fighting zone when he arrived, but found himself in a very random place: Kana's dining room. "I didn't see this coming." He commented, and looked at the table, where Kana and Kasai sat.

The table was wooden and circular, both women sitting across from each other. Kana was dolled up, wearing a slinky outfit with curled hair and make up, while Kasai was in normal clothes. Candles were lit on the table, along with a nice meal that looked as if it took all evening to prepare.

It felt unusually realistic and detailed. He could smell the food, the wine, and overwhelming scent of Kana's perfume. The air was warm, electric, even with the soft glow of candlelight.

"Kasai, what's going on?" Gray asked, but then gasped in surprise when something grabbed his waist, pulling him back and shoving him into a chair. He realized quickly that he couldn't move his body. "What the hell? Why can't I move my body?" He asked.

"What's the occasion?" Kasai asked Kana, either ignoring or unable to see Gray immobilized. He was sitting off to the side, inbetween the two woman, in perfect viewing position for whatever was going to happen.

"Warren, I can't move. Warren?" Gray asked, trying to contact the telepath, but he didn't answer.

"I'm just so happy to see you." The brunette said, already tipsy, but taking another drink from her glass of wine. "You've been gone a lot. It feels like forever since I last saw you."

"Sorry…" Kasai replied, looking down at her plate. "When Natsu broke up with me, I didn't want to stay in town."

"I'm so sorry to hear," Kana said and reached over to hold Kasai's hand.

Gray suddenly wondered if Kana was the one that tried to break them up.

The red head pulled away, obviously uncomfortable with the contact. "So how's your dad doing?"

"I rely on no man. I've been cutting out all men in my life. They're scum. They're all the same."

"Sounds like Kana…" Gray commented, who had been wondering how much of the conversation had been slanted by Kasai's memory verses what actually happened. So far, it seemed plausible.

He couldn't help but feel nervous.

"A lot of guys suck, but they don't all suck." Kasai replied, and Gray grinned.

"You tell her!" He supported, hoping that even if he couldn't move, he could give her emotional support.

"They all lie and manipulate. Just like those bastards did to me, just like Kiken did to you, just like our Guild Master." Kana told the other woman, and Gray felt a pang of guilt and regret in his chest. He looked over at Kasai, suddenly wondering if he was feeling her emotions.

Something about Kiken caused her great sorrow. "Our Guild Master hasn't done anything to us."

Gray wondered why she argued that point, rather than about the subject that actually hurt her. "What did she mean when she talked about Kiken?" Gray asked her, and felt further pain.

So she could hear him to an extent.

"They're men that just want control."

"Three out of four of our s-ranked wizards are women. Our Guild is pretty balanced in terms of gender and power."

"Kasai, Kasai," Kana tisked, making Gray growl under his breath.

Kasai, he noticed, took a drink from her glass. There was something eerie about it, and when he looked closer, it didn't look like a normal glass of wine. It looked pure black.

"Natsu was violent like your mother, wasn't he?" She asked Kasai, and the glass broke in her hand.

The shards cut deep into the fire woman's hand, and Gray watched the dark magic drip down her bleeding hand. "Kasai, the glass! It has dark magic in it!"

"Natsu is nothing like my mother. I don't know what the hell you're…" Kasai swayed unusually.

"Kasai, snap out of it! None of this is real, dark magic is just making you act this way!" The ice man yelled, watching in horror as his friend fell to the ground, the table falling with her.

He felt fear.

"Kasai!"

"You drugged me?" Kasai asked as she struggled, crawling on the ground like a wounded animal and trying to get away. The glass dug into her skin, leaving a trail of blood.

"Did this actually happen?!" Gray asked, and looked over at Kana, who still sat in her seat, wine glass in her hand and a smile on her face. "What kind of friend are you!? Why are you doing this!?" He struggled against his restraints with no success.

Kasai was now still, unmoving, but he knew that she was still conscious.

Kana walked over to her, swaying her hips and stumbling along the way. She nudged the woman on the ground with her foot, pushing Kasai onto her back. "It's a paralyzing drug. You can see and hear everything that happens, and once it fully kicks in, you'll be able to _feel_ everything. You'll be paralyzed for the next few hours." She explained, and kneeled down, avoiding a few shards of glass and porcelain. "I have to keep your head facing the side, otherwise you could choke on your own tongue."

"Damn it, Kana, knock it off! What the hell do you think you're doing?! Leave her alone!" He yelled, but it was no use. They couldn't hear him, or wouldn't acknowledge it, and he was stuck in the stupid chair.

The brunette kissed her, and whispered that she loved her, but Gray couldn't hear it over the sounds of his own voice yelling at her.

"I didn't just drug you… I also drugged myself. My organs should shut down in about an hour." She explained, and leaned over to kiss the woman's stomach after unbuttoning her shirt. "I want to die with you."

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" Gray finally asked, and although it was possible that it was a dream or weird fantasy, the overwhelming fear and helplessness was too much to shake. He watched helplessly as Kasai attempted to use her fire magic, and have it not work. And then the blood magic, trying to shove the woman off, but then Kana's bare teeth clamping down on her skin.

Gray was crying now.

"Stop it!" He screamed, and suddenly the brunette flew into the wall, her limp body landing with a loud thud on the ground.

Kasai slowly stood, but she was different than before.

She was dark.

Her shirt was open, revealing the bite marks on her now dark skin, but the marks were glowing red. Gray's connection to her was gone, but the fear was still there, watching Kasai's body morph into some kind of demonic creature. She raised her hand, blood magic flowing ominously from her body, and suddenly it attacked Kana.

The wizard was literally ripped to pieces, Kana's body being torn apart from the inside out.

Her body now decorated the room.

Kasai suddenly turned towards him, her demonic eyes locking on him for the first time that evening, pure evil in her eyes.

The ice wizard was speechless, whether paralyzed from the 'drug' or not, he had no idea. He watched as the blood magic descended on him, truly terrified.

4.

"Is this… a hospital?" Lucy asked, turning in different directions to try and figure out where she was. She had just stepped through the doorway and appeared in this extremely sterile hallway, people walking by her with no faces, but wearing nurse, doctor, and patient outfits.

The blond wandered a bit, looking down a random corridor, and saw a young girl sitting on a bench.

She was sitting upright, back straight, and gaze fierce. Her hands were clenched on her knees.

Her hair was long, reaching about midback, and tied back in a braid.

"Kasai? Is that you?" Lucy asked, surprised that she was the same age as the other Kasai she had met. She wondered if it was the same one, when she noticed that there was a man standing in front of her.

Lucy's eyes widened, realizing that it was the same doctor that used to work at Fairy Tale.

"I'm sorry, Taiyo. There was nothing I could do."

"You're saying," Kasai spoke, her eyes locked on the doctor's. "That my mother, the strongest wizard in the country, was killed from _food poisoning_?"

"During the procedure, her heart rate spiked, and we couldn't compensate for it in time."

"So you're saying that you're incompetent?" She rephrased, jaw clenching.

"I'm sorry for your loss." The doctor bowed, and then walked away.

She was alone.

In the entire hallway, sitting on that bench, was a young girl that just lost her mother.

"The famous fire dragonslayer died lying in a hospital bed." She muttered, her eyes wide and focused on something far way. "Because of an incompetent doctor."

"Kasai…" Lucy spoke, finally getting the attention of the young woman.

"Yes? Do I know you?" She asked, turning towards the blond. Lucy was surprised by how she hid the pain, how she looked perfectly fine sitting their, only her tense muscles giving away her true state.

"Yes. My name is Lucy." The wizard said, and took a seat next to Kasai.

The red head moved her gaze back to the wall in front of her, her mind seeming a million miles away. "What do you want?"

"Well, I noticed you here, and wanted to say hi." She said, wondering why she didn't recognize her, but decided to go with it for the time being. "Are you ok?"

"I just found out that my mother died." She replied, unable to move her gaze from the blank white wall.

"I'm so sorry. Isn't there anyone that can help you?"

"Kasai, I just heard the news," A new voice spoke, and both of them looked up to see a man standing a few feet away. He was in a business suit, and Lucy recognized him as Tanashimi. "Is she okay?"

"She's dead." She said bluntly, looking at the older man, devoid of emotion.

"I'm so sorry to hear." He spoke, and knelt down to eye level with her, placing a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. "I cared about your mother very much. If there's anything you need, anything at all," As he spoke, the hand on her shoulder tightening. "You call me, okay?" He said, and as he retreated his hand, gently stroked her cheek.

Before Lucy could question him about it, he was gone, hurrying off down the hallway. "What was that about? Why is that creep here?"

"He was my mom's boyfriend for a while." She said, looking at where he had disappeared. "He got too clingy, so she dumped him."

"He's creepy." She commented, and Kasai nodded. Her fists clenched.

"He's the one that killed my mother." She said, and Lucy watched as darkness began filling her eyes.

"Hey, look at me," Lucy said, gently putting her hands on each side of Kasai's face and forcing her to look at her. "It doesn't matter how she died. What matters is that you need a friend to help you through this, and I'm here for you."

Slowly, the darkness began disappearing from her eyes. "You are?"

"Of course." Lucy said, and rested their foreheads together. "I'm your friend. I'll always be there for you." She said with a smile, and pulled her into a hug.

5.

Gajeel heard yelling.

He also smelled blood.

It was dark, and he wasn't sure, but it looked like a hallway of someone's house. There were picture frames on the walls, the floor was carpeted, and at the end of the hallway was a large window sill. It smelled like burnt food, hair, and other random burning smells.

"You _let_ him manipulate you like that? What kind of pathetic piece of shit are you?!" He heard someone yell, and began running towards the voice. His hand reached for the door, and when he entered, found Kasai's mother punching a bed sheet.

The person beneath the sheet was crying.

It was a simple room, consisting of a bed, desk, and bookshelf filled to the brim with texts. A few little knickknacks lined the room, along with some photographs, but ultimately there was little decoration. The light shined harshly from the ceiling, and Gajeel had to squint against it. "Who the hell are you?" The woman yelled at him.

"I'm a friend of Kasai's." He said, and sniffed the air, smelling her scent.

The sheets moved, and he wondered if it was her under the sheets.

"Well get out!" The woman screamed, and threw a punch at him, which he easily dodged.

He punched her in the gut, surprised at how weak she was, watching her fall to the ground unconscious. When she lay unmoving on the ground for several seconds, he looked back up at the bed, listening to the whimper sounds beneath it. "Kasai?"

Gajeel walked up to the bed and crouched down, trying to look at her face hidden beneath the blanket.

"That lady won't be bothering you anymore. She's out cold." The dark-haired man told her, his voice soft. He watched the sheets begin to move, and a red eye appeared beneath, which looked behind him at the unconscious woman on the ground.

Then she looked at him, meeting his gaze.

That look in her eye. He recognized it.

"Hey, it's okay," He whispered, and slowly reached a hand up to her head, petting the small amount of hair visible.

Her eye disappeared beneath the blanket again, but her scalp was still above the covers.

Her legs moved, and he looked over to see a spot of blood forming on the sheets by her crotch, the blood beginning to spread.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I want to help you." Gajeel spoke, looking at where her face hid. "In order to do that, I need to get you out of here. Can you walk?"

"No." She breathed, barely loud enough for him to catch.

"How about I carry you, then?" He asked, gently stroking her scalp with his thumb. Her hair felt warm in his hand, and it was strange to touch it while it was so long. It wasn't in the braid her younger self had been in, but instead was probably shoulder length and sprawled across the pillow.

"It hurts…"

"I'm going to get you help, alright? You can even keep the blanket on." He assured her.

6.

"Shit!" Gray yelled as he fell back, landing on his rear and staring wide eyed at the unconscious Kasai on the bed. His adrenaline was pumping, breathing erratic, and mind raced trying to comprehend what just happened.

"Are you okay my love?" Juvia asked, kneeling down to support him. He flinched away and pushed her back, causing her to fall.

"Gray, what happened? I lost you, and something severed the connection." Warren explained, looking down at him.

The ice man took a moment to catch his breath, trying to cool down and figure out how to deal with the situation. "I've never seen anything so terrifying."

"What happened?" Makarov asked, looking at him from his chair across the room.

"I was paralyzed, just like she was, and I could feel everything. Her fear, her anger…" He spoke, looking down at his shaking hands. "It felt so _real_."

"Lucy, Natsu, Gajeel- Gray was just forced out of Kasai's mind, and he's pretty shaken up. Be careful." Warren told the others, although telepathically communicating with the others in the room as well.

"I watched her literally ripped Kana apart from the inside out with her blood magic." Gray said, beginning to cool down. "And then she attacked me… can you send me back?"

"No, something is blocking me."

"Geez, Gray, way to drop the ball!" Natsu spoke telepathically, tempting Gray to punch the bozo that sat unmoving in the chair next to him.

"Are you okay, Gray?" Lucy asked.

"I'll be fine. You guys keep going, though. Be careful." Gray told them.

7.

Lucy was hugging Kasai, and everything seemed to be going well, when she sensed a new presence in the hallway.

When she turned to look at it, her eyes widened in fear.

"What the…?" She asked, and then quickly stood, pulling Kasai to her feet and standing in front of her protectively.

A demonic looking Kasai, her skin jet black, stared at them with a crooked and demented smile on her face. Bite marks glowed across her torso, shirt open, and blood magic floating around her ominously. Her stance was crooked, making her look unnatural.

She licked her lips, her long tongue creeping out Lucy. "Kasai, run!" Lucy said, turning to run with the young Kasai in the other direction, but felt something shove her to the side and land on the floor.

When the blond looked up, she saw the young Kasai struggling against her grip, screaming at her to let her go.

"Let her go!" Lucy yelled, about to run forward, when someone grabbed her hand.

"Lucy, it's too late. You have to get out of here." A much younger Kasai, looking to be 10 years old, told her. "Move!" She yelled when the woman just stared at her.

"But I can't leave-" Lucy spoke, but stopped, when she saw the demonic looking Kasai literally bite the head off of her younger self. "Running sounds good."

8.

Gajeel had no idea where to go, so he just wandered around the house with the clingy girl in his arms, wondering where to go. When he had arrived, he just sort of appeared, so he assumed that the same would happen in leaving.

He eventually found the front door, and when he stepped outside, came face to face with a crowd of naked people.

"Right, you grew up with a nudist colony." He spoke to himself, and noticed to men in particular walk forward.

"We're Star,"

"And Comet." The other one finished. They both looked to be around 15 years old, only couple years old than the woman in his arms, and looked identical. Warm smiles covered their faces, and curly black hair covering their heads in an oddly cute way.

"We'll take care of her now." They said together, looking at the terrified girl in his arms. "Just like we always will."

"How do I know that you'll keep her safe? Do you know what's going on?" Gajeel asked, skeptical of the pair, even though he had the odd sensation that he could trust them.

"When this happened in reality, we were there for her, but we couldn't protect her from her mother's wrath. Maki is really a kind and wonderful woman, but she didn't know her own strength when it came to little Taiyo." One of them spoke, and stepped forward, gently stroking the girl's hair like Gajeel had done earlier.

"You know what is at risk?" The dragonslayer asked, silently wondering if this 'Comet' had stroked her hair when he was alive, or if he was just copying him.

"Yes." Star answered, and suddenly Kasai started squirming in his arms, trying to reach out for Comet.

9.

"She beat you up pretty bad, huh?" Natsu asked as he sat down in front of her, folding his legs beneath him and finally giving her his full attention. The girl's mother lay several yards away, unconscious, and smoking.

"Yeah…" She muttered, and then sat up, rubbing her eye. "I'm not crying."

"It's okay if you do."

"I-I'm not."

"I cry sometimes."

"I'm the daughter of a dragonslayer. I don't c-cry."

"I'm a dragonslayer, and I cry sometimes. It doesn't make me weak." He told her, smiling at the little 4 year old.

"R-really?" She asked, and he nodded.

"Yep." He answered simply, excited to meet 'little' Kasai. "You're adorable."

"I'm a warrior." She told him, pouting.

"You're an adorable warrior." He said, watching her cheeks flare up and arms cross across her chest.

"Natsu!"

He looked over across the field and saw Lucy running towards him, another 'little Kasai' running next to her. "Isn't 'little Kasai' adorable?!" He asked, squirming in his seat.

"I just watched Kasai bite her own head off, and you're busy playing!?" She yelled, causing him to give her a confused look.

"Warren," The little red head next to Lucy said, causing the pair to look down at her. Whenever one of them said Warren's name, he was able to then patch all of them together to talk. "Gray, what did Kasai look like when you saw her?"

"Whose speaking right now? Is that a kid?" He asked.

"Gajeel, you weren't kidding when you said her mind is dark!"

"Told ya."

"I'm Kasai, 10 years old."

"The Kasai I saw was from a few months ago. Kana attacked her, and so she went ballistic and killed her. Her skin turned black and she had bite marks all over her torso."

"That's the same one that attacked my Kasai!" Lucy said. "She literally bit her head off!"

"Bite marks?" Natsu asked, blinking.

"Yeah, she's covered in them. She's terrifying!" Lucy said squirming and falling on her butt.

"Are you okay?" Ten year old Kasai asked the four year old, who nodded and stood.

Screams suddenly erupted to the East, and when Natsu and Lucy went to grab the two Kasai's to investigate, turned to find them gone. "Where'd they go!?"

"They probably went to join the muffin girl," Lucy reasoned.

"Well let's go!" Natsu yelled, and started running, the blond yelling at him to slow down.

10.

Gajeel found himself in the middle of a blood bath.

Swords clashed, yells of agony rang out, and magic was in the air.

He ran to the sidelines, trying to make sense of the situation, and noticed that all of the people fighting were in monk attire. "She wasn't here for this," The dragonslayer mumbled, dodging a stray kunai that flew in his direction.

"Kasai!" Natsu screamed from outside, and Gajeel also heard the cries of Lucy as well. He made his way through the chaos, and when he got outside, found the pair on the edge of the old building. "Gajeel, do you know where she is!?"

"I just got here." He said, joining them. "I'm pretty sure that this is the 'civil war' at the Buddhist temple she grew up at. But she wasn't here when this happened, so I don't get why we're here."

"It makes sense, though." Lucy said. "It impacted her so much… the muffin Kasai said that the dark magic was targeting her at her most vulnerable moments. She must have a lot of anger over what happened here."

"Guys, how's it coming along? It's getting difficult to keep you attached." Warren spoke, interrupting their conversation.

"We're all together now." Lucy spoke. "We're at the temple that Kasai grew up at, but there's so much fighting and chaos, we don't know where to start."

"Maybe we should join the fight?" Natsu asked.

"Idiot. She's sad that her friends are dead, so you want to punch them?"

"It was just an idea…"

"Remember guys, if you die in her mind, you'll be forced back to your body like me." Gray reminded them.

"Yeah, yeah…" Natsu and Gajeel muttered.

"David!" A female voice screamed over the rest, the sound so loud and piercing that caused all of them to cover their ears in pain.

"Do either of you know where that came from?" Lucy asked, and they nodded, running off to find the source of the scream.

11.

When they eventually found the room where the scream had come from, they all stopped and stared in astonishment.

A strange woman was standing on Kasai's face, digging her boot into her cheek, but a younger version of her was crying nearby. The two were in the center of the room. What was even stranger were the multiple Kasais in the room.

"What the hell…?" Natsu muttered.

On one side of the room, 5 demonic looking Kasais stood, eyeing the one on the floor like a piece of meat. On the opposite side were 5 normal looking Kasais, most of which looked younger in age. "Sarah watched the love of her life die… because we ran away." One of the evil Kasais said.

"We had no way of knowing!" A 'good' Kasai argued.

"Not to mention, it's not like we killed him, it was Kiken!"

"What's going on?" Lucy asked one of the Kasai's closer to them, who happened to be in the cat costume she had worn for Halloween.

"This is when Sarah showed us everything that had happened in my absence. We're trying to make her listen to reason and not succumb to the darkness." She answered, and gave a weird look at Natsu.

"What's with the cat costume?" He asked, and she 'humphed' at him.

"It was her Halloween costume… it happened shortly after your break up with her." Gajeel explained, causing the pink-haired boy to cross his arms.

Suddenly their surroundings changed, but the people stayed. Now there were new bodies on the ground.

Lucy recognized them as celestial spirits, and put her hands over her mouth.

12.

"Today is not the day to die!" One of the Kasai's yelled, and started screaming as the other Kasai's disappeared and turned to energy, morphing and being absorbed into the one.

Across from them, they saw a similar thing happening with the dark version of her.

"You're so pathetic," Lucy said, but her eyes where white and skin dark like Kasai's. She stepped out from behind the dark Kasai. "I only said that crap to see you cry."

"What…?" Lucy asked, confused by the sudden appearance of herself.

"What a loser. She'll sleep with anyone these days." An evil Natsu said, chuckling at her and emerging the same way Lucy had.

"Weakling. After what you told me, I'll never look at you the same again." An evil Gajeel said, standing next to Lucy. "Cry baby."

"Kasai, it's a trick. Don't listen to them!" Lucy told Kasai, and was surprised when she looked back over at her.

She was on fire, using her fire magic, while the dark version of her was using blood magic. "We all care about you, Kasai, you can do it! Kick her ass and get the dark magic out of you!" Natsu cheered, and jumped in surprise when he realized that there was a crowd of people behind him.

The dark Kasai grimaced, but then smirked, and began 'summoning' her own zombie versions of the people behind her.

"The reason why you will never win," The good Kasai spoke. "Is because I have great friends to help and support me!" She yelled, and ran forward, their magic clashing.

A massive battle rang out, and only a few minutes into the fight, the three wizards woke abruptly. "Sorry I had to get you guys out of there, but I risked losing you guys if I didn't."

"That was crazy!" Natsu yelled, jumping up. "There were so many Kasais, and then two Kasais, and then a bunch of naked people fighting!"

"Why isn't she waking up, though?!" Lucy asked, looking down at the still sleeping woman, worry on her face.

"The fight isn't over." Gajeel stated.

"Kasai, you have to stay strong! You have to win!" Lucy yelled, tears falling down her face as she shook the woman by the arm. "You have to stay good!"

13.

Kasai found herself at the temple again, but it was different this time.

It was sunny, the garden was beautiful and well groomed, and long forgotten faces wandered around the premises. They were all as she remembered them when she was 13 years old, before the bad things happened, and when she was obliviously happy.

Everyone was eating lunch outside that day, lounging around the courtyard and enjoying the perfect weather. In a circle was Kasai's closest friends: Comet, Star, Sarah, and David. Sarah was in David's arms, giggling and laughing at something that Star and Comet had done. Star appeared to be imitating one of the teachers at the temple, and Sarah was laughing so hard that liquid began spurting from her nose.

"Gross!" Comet yelled out, both of the twins jumping away as the liquid sprayed into the air.

"How are you, Taiyo?" Kasai turned her head to the side, looking at the man that spoke, and came face to face with one of the monks. He was smiling, his old and wise eyes sparkling against the light. The old man was about her height, maybe an inch shorter, and she instantly recognized him as the first monk she had ever met.

"I don't know." She said honestly, but a soft smile was on her face, and she felt an odd calm resonating within her. "I was just fighting a battle, but then I found myself here. I was shattered, split into so many pieces…" Her voice trailed off, her eyes drifting again to her four friends goofing around in the background.

"What does this place mean to you?" He asked softly.

"When I meditate, this is where I go. It helps me remember what I'm living for."

"Why aren't your Fairy Tale friends here?" He asked, causing her to chuckle. She paused for a moment, trying to find a way to explain it.

"Because… they don't evoke calmness. I feel so strongly about them, it makes me want to get up and go play with them. This scene… my past… it makes me remember why I don't need to solve every problem with violence. This calmness allows me to bring my mind together and sort through everything without losing control."

"This is your home." He summarized for her, and she smiled. A warm, happy feeling spread through her chest. Marcus, the monk, placed his hand on her shoulder. "Your mother is here." He commented, and she turned to look at where he was pointing.

Walking up her steps was an image of her mother that she hadn't seen in years, and will never see again.

"You forgot your lunch, bookworm." The older dragonslayer spoke as she approached the young girl, a large basket in her hand. She opened it and pulled out a sack lunch, handing it to her daughter.

"Thanks, mom."

"Would you like a muffin, Marcus?" The older woman asked, keeping the lid open on the basket and allowing him to see the 3 dozen muffins inside.

"Ooh, don't mind if I do, Ms. Kitsiki." He replied, happily reaching over and taking a blueberry muffin.

"Taiyo's mom brought muffins!" Star yelled out, jumping up and running towards them. All around the courtyard, students and monks jumped to their feet and ran over to them, excited for the free food.

"I love all of you too much to let the bad memories take over. As long as I have these memories, and my friends at Fairy Tale to help me, I'll be okay."

When Kasai finally woke up, she was surrounded by her friends, feeling well rested and loved.

1.

"So uh… can I ask you something?" Gajeel asked during their break, both of them sitting on a log. When the red head finished drinking her water, she nodded. "When I was in your… head… why did you have me go to that moment?"

Not expecting the question, she briefly glanced at him, but then at the trees across the small clearing. In the distance, she could see a nest with two birds flying around it, their blue wings beating quickly.

"I mean, why not Natsu?" He added awkwardly.

"I thought you could handle it." She shrugged.

"But he's your boyfriend. He's supposed to be the one to do that mushy stuff, not me."

"Are you upset that I chose you for that memory?"

"It's not that, I just… don't get it." He replied, and after a moment of thinking, began fidgeting with her hands.

"You're the only person I trust with that memory." She answered. "Out of all of my memories, it was just as strong as the Kana one, and if the darkness had taken hold of her, the dark magic would have won. As such it had to be handled delicately, and you'd already proven you could do it."

"The Kana one? If both of those were the strongest ones, why didn't you have Natsu do that one?"

"The memory I had Natsu do was essential. It wasn't necessarily powerful, but it influenced and shapes the very person I am today." Her gaze went back to the birds nest. "I used his positive energy to keep my younger self happy, and thus keep my older self happy. It's confusing to explain, but basically, his presence managed to shift everything to light. Without him at that specific memory, I may not have woken up as 'me'."

There was a silence between them, both of them thinking of the events that had transpired over the past week. Gajeel was trying to look for the words to describe what he was thinking, but couldn't find them.

"So you and Levy, huh?" She suddenly asked, turning chipper and smirking at the man. "I heard you asked her out?"

He blushed, looking away and annoyed at the topic, albeit not annoyed at changing conversation. "Yeah. We've got a date on Friday."

"Where are you taking her?"

"Movie and dinner. Pretty basic. Since we're going to be training so much for the competition soon, we figured it would be a good break, too."

"That's awesome. I'm happy for you." Kasai said, giving a gentle punch to his arm.

"I doubt it'll work out. She's such a bookworm and I have no idea how to talk to her."

"You're probably right. You don't have a chance." She agreed, smiling cheekily.

"Hey!" He yelled, and just like before, they went back to fighting.


	25. Chapter 25

**Author's note:** Hello! I hope you enjoy the chapter, and thank you again for all the faves, reviews, and follows! :)

 **Chapter 25**

 _Cuddles_

"Hey dudes, want to grab a drink tonight?" Kasai asked abruptly as she returned to the Guild Hall, having made a beeline for Gajeel and Lily as soon as she'd arrived. She had been doing nonstop missions with Natsu and his team for the past two weeks, and after the utter chaos that ensued, she could use a drink and some space.

"Did you just get back?" Gajeel asked, looking up at the dirty and tired looking woman.

"You would not believe what I've been through the past two weeks." She said, sighing. "So, drinks? I need to shower, but I can meet you in a couple hours."

"Sure, it seems like forever since we hung out." Gajeel commented, and Lily nodded.

"I'm in. This place is too loud with Natsu here." He said, glancing at the pink-haired boy yelling at the top of his lungs across the room.

"The Bolt, 7 sound good?"

"See you there." Gajeel replied, and went back to sipping on his soda.

1.

The three wizards met up at the poorly lit bar, laughing at the stories Kasai told about her recent adventures, along with some of their old ones. They'd all changed into more comfortable clothing to blend in with the crowd more, Kasai and Gajeel wearing jeans and simple t-shirts.

"He did what?" Gajeel asked in disbelief, Lily laughing his ass off at his side.

"He set a priest on fire, tried to put out the fire by throwing glue on him, and then somehow-" Kasai had to stop talking from laughter, having to set her glass down to prevent it from spilling. "Somehow feathers got in there."

"What an idiot."

"In Natsu's defense, the glue was watery and was mislabeled." She said, and took a sip from her drink, smiling at the memory.

"You need to start taking a camera on your missions with them." Lily said after calming down, tears in his eyes.

"When's your birthday? I'm buying you a damn camera." Gajeel added.

"I don't celebrate my birthday anymore. When I went into hiding, I got out of the habit."

"Well that's stupid." The man snorted, chugging the last of his whiskey. It was his fifth drink, and it was nearing 10 PM now.

"I'm also thinking of taking a break from missions with Natsu… I love him, but goddamn, the power of the team is overkill. They destroy entire buildings on a weekly basis."

"Hey Gajeel, long time no see." A new voice spoke nearby, causing the small group to turn their attention to him. A larger group, 15 people were rising from their seats and glowering at the iron dragonslayer.

Gajeel moved to stand, but stumbled, and fell to the ground.

Kasai and Panther Lily immediately stood, the sound of their chairs skidding across the ground causing the bar to still into silence. "Do we have a problem?" The cat asked, jumping onto the table as the red head moved to stand next to the groaning Gajeel.

"Nothing that concerns an old hag and her cat." One of them spoke, causing cocky smirks to appear on many of their faces. The two wizards suddenly realized that the entire bar was against them, and they were surrounded.

Upon closer inspection, they both realized that each person was adorning large amounts of metal jewelry and a matching star symbol tattoos.

"Gentlemen, I don't know what your business with Gajeel is, but you're not doing anything with him. We're wizards of Fairy Tale and don't take kindly to threats." Kasai spoke, a small smile on her face and polite tone in her voice. Laughs rang out around her, and she turned to look at Lily. "Would you like to take these guys down, or should I?"

"Since we get free drinks, we should cause as little damage as possible." Lily answered, and she nodded, putting her hands in her pockets as her blood magic rose from beneath her skin. Within seconds, she had her bloodmagic hand cuffs draining their magic and leaving them passed out on the ground.

Lily looked around, nodding in approval at the lack of damage that had occurred. All of the men, which had totaled to maybe 40 people, were on the ground passed out. "Any idea what that was about?

"None." Lily answered, watching as Kasai reached over and turned Gajeel onto his back. She pulled at his eyelid to see his pupils, and checked his pulse.

"He's out. You two can sleep on my couch tonight in case they attack again." Kasai told him, and with effort, pulled him onto her back.

2.

"What the hell does he eat? He weighs a ton."

"Most of his body is iron. He's basically a moving statue." Lily answered, chuckling at the red head moping at having to carry the large man. "If he's too heavy-"

"No, I got it." She replied defiantly, causing the cat to chuckle.

"Kasai?" The new voice caused both of them to look up, and were both surprised at the sight of Levy. She had two grocery bags in her hands, and she stood in front of them, eyes wide. The two wizards stopped walking, looking up at the woman in surprise.

"Levy! Long time no see." Kasai grinned, her cheeks slightly red from the alcohol. "How's it going?"

"So… you and Gajeel…?" Levy asked awkwardly, her cheeks turning red.

"We went out for drinks, and this lug drank too much. I don't know how you put up with this dolt." She commented, chuckling at the end.

"Are you okay, Levy?" Panther Lily asked after jumping onto Kasai's head, ignoring her glare and focusing on the blue-haired girl. She was looking into her bag of groceries, and even though it was dark, he could hear a quiver in her voice.

"I just, um… Gajeel canceled plans with me tonight… he said he was going to catch up on sleep." She spoke, but before the two wizards could reply, she ran past them and continued down the street.

Lily and Kasai stood there for a moment, trying to figure out what happened, and sighed. "Gajeel is a dumbass. When he wakes up, I'm kicking his ass."

"I'll join you." Lily stated, and with another sigh, Kasai started walking again.

"You both need to lose some weight."

3.

"Why the hell is _he_ here?" Natsu asked, his nose wrinkling in disgust at his rival. The red head walked past him, walking into the living room as her boyfriend closed the door behind her. Lily jumped off of her head and landed on the coffee table.

"Someone spiked his drinks. I don't want him to be alone tonight." Kasai told him, and dropped the heavy man onto the couch. He snored loudly, but otherwise didn't stir.

"Everyone at the bar was from a different Guild. For some reason they wanted to take Gajeel." Lily added, taking the chance to look around the small living room. "Nice house."

"Why couldn't you leave him at his place and let Panther Lily watch him?" Natsu asked, crossing his arms and taking a step closer to them.

"Natsu, don't be mean. He's a member of Fairy Tale and he needs help." Happy stated, flying over to Lily. "It'll be like a sleepover!"

"Ugh, fine. Whatever." Natsu finally conceded, too tired to argue. "Let's just go to bed."

4.

Throughout the night, Kasai checked on Gajeel to make sure he was alive. Whatever they drugged him with was likely just a sedative, but on the off chance it was something else, she didn't want to gamble on his life.

At 6 AM she was up and moving around, making coffee and breakfast for herself. Everyone else was still asleep, which was normal, and she tried to stay quiet at the early hours.

Her mind wandered to Levy. How awkward and sad she looked, how she ran off after telling them that Gajeel had ditched her to hang out with them.

When Gajeel wakes up, he'll have the lovely surprise of a sharpie mustache, unibrow, and glitter on his face.

Kasai smiled as she cracked the eggs shells and let the insides fall into the bowl. As she added seasonings and continued her morning routine, the thoughts of her first 'mission' with Gajeel came to mind.

She had learned a lot that day. When she hacked the system of her Edolas counterpart, who went by the simple name of 'The Doctor' or Taiyo, she'd learned a great deal about her activities. Kasai had learned about the horrors and atrocities she committed, that she was still committing, and the thought of it made her stomach churn.

Aside from the research notes, Kasai had learned valuable information about the mysterious woman's background, namely from her notes on torturing her mother. The Doctor grew up in an abusive household, where her mother was weak and beaten on a regular basis; when she was a teenager, she killed her parents and continues to torture and control Kasai's mother.

The Blood Guild wants power and immortality. At this rate, the dragonslayer doubted there was any morality line they hadn't crossed.

They were evil.

"Whatever you're cooking… smells like organic shit." Gajeel spoke from the doorway and causing Kasai to jump, almost causing the frying pan to fall. She turned, glaring at him, and instantly trying to recover from her embarrassing jumpiness. "Did I scare you?"

The woman couldn't help but smile, seeing her handiwork from the night before. He was leaning against the frame of the kitchen doorway, hands in his pockets, and trying to look cool. "Nope. Want some eggs?"

"Sure. I'll take some coffee, too."

"Help yourself." She said. "Mugs are in that cabinet."

"Thanks." He muttered, voice gruff and low. Upon further inspection she noticed bags under his bloodshot eyes, and his movements were sluggish.

"Who were the guys that attacked you?" She asked as she continued cooking the scrambled eggs, watching in the corner of her eye as he poured himself some coffee.

"I don't remember much… I remember someone saying my name, but then everything went black." He muttered. "Sugar?"

"Next to the coffee maker. Cream is in the fridge." She spoke. "They wore a lot of metal."

"Could be an old group I used to hang with… The 'Metal Heads'."

"Why are they after you?"

He shrugged. "Fuck if I know. They had a stupid rule of killing anyone that left the group, but they never acted on it. They've attacked me a couple of times, but I took care of them."

"Apparently not." Kasai commented. He grunted, annoyed, and took a seat at the dining room table. The dining room was an extension of the kitchen, only a countertop separating the two rooms.

"Eh. They got a cheap shot."

"Speaking of dick heads, we ran into Levy last night." Kasai spoke as she got out a plate and put the scrambled eggs on it. Luckily she'd made extra, in case anyone woke up hungry. "You canceled a date with Levy to go out drinking?"

The dragonslayer groaned, cursing under his breath, and pinching the bridge of his nose. "She's going to hate me."

Kasai put his plate in front of him, set her plate on infront of her chair, and then went to pour herself a cup of coffee.

"Yesterday morning she asked to go on a date, but I wanted a night to myself, so I told her I needed to get some sleep instead…. But then you came to town, and we haven't hung out in forever, so I forgot."

"She seemed pretty upset."

He groaned, again, his eyes closed and hand moving to his forehead. "I feel like shit."

"I need to return a book to Levy. I'll stop by her place at noon and talk to her. In the mean time, eat some food, drink some coffee, and then get your ass home and sleep."

"Natsu must have been pissed that you brought me here."

"He understands." She said with a shrug, and the pair fell into silence as they ate their breakfast.

5.

Later that morning, Kasai did as she said and found herself in front of Levy's apartment door. She had been waiting for almost a minute after knocking, listening to the young woman stumble around her apartment. The red head had a large book in her arms and bounced on the balls of her feet as she waited.

"Who is it?"

"It's Kasai." She replied, and an awkward silence followed. The lock clicked, doorknob twisted, and door opened. Kasai smiled and held up the book. "I was in the area, and thought I'd return your book."

Levy was wearing a simple orange dress, and eyes appeared red and swollen. "Oh, thanks…. I was just about to make tea. Would you like some?" She asked, and Kasai smiled.

"That sounds awesome. I'd love some."

Kasai entered the young woman's apartment, not surprised at the lack of change. It was tidy and looked just like she remembered, even though she hadn't been there in months. The apartment was mostly shades of blue, and had interesting paintings hanging on the walls. One of them was a flamingo driving in a car with sunglasses, the words "books are the gateway to flamingos" printed along the top.

"How are you?"

"I'm good. You?"

"Pretty good."

Kasai set the book on a night stand and sat down on the couch, her companion sitting across from her on a matching love seat.

"I'm sorry about last night. If I had known he had canceled a date with you to catch up on sleep, I wouldn't have pressured him into drinking." Kasai apologized, watching the female become further awkward.

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have run off like that. Don't worry about it." She replied, bowing her head.

"He really likes you, you know." Kasai commented, and Levy sat up with her cheeks red. "He talks about you a lot."

"He talks about you, too." She replied, looking at the ground and causing an awkward silence to fill the room.

Trying to choose her words carefully, Kasai paused before speaking. "If you're worried about Gajeel and I hooking up, don't. We're just friends. He saved my life a while back and helped me through a lot of issues. I'm also happily in love with Natsu."

Levy looked up at the mention of Natsu, and diverted her gaze when the sound of the tea kettle met their ears. "Tea is ready." She stated, and stood, walking over to the small kitchen to pour their tea.

"You were my first friend when I moved to Magnolia." Kasai spoke, raising her voice so that she could hear her from the other room. "I know that I've been busy lately, but I'd like us to be friends again. Natsu nor Gajeel are much intellectuals."

Levy laughed from the other room, and when she emerged from the kitchen, handed her the cup of tea. She was smiling, tears falling down her face, and she returned to her seat. "I would like that. I missed you."

6.

"I never took you for a drinker." Kasai commented later that evening, facing the blue-haired woman with her legs criss-crossed and back straight. Her hands were on her knees, eyeing the woman across from her and glancing occasionally at the bottle of rum between them.

"I'm not. I've never actually been drunk before." She admitted, and Kasai raised her eyebrows at her.

"Never?"

"Never."

"It's a good thing you never told Erza. She would have destroyed you." Kasai told her, and reached out to open the bottle. She poured each of them a shot.

"After what happened to you, I made sure not to." She laughed, and raised her glass. They gently tapped their shot glasses together. "To getting drunk."

"Amen, sister."

They downed their first shot, Levy grimacing and almost gagging at the taste. Kasai smiled behind her glass of orange juice, her action reminding the blue-haired woman to do the same. "These are called chasers?" Levy asked after gulping down half of the glass.

"Yep." Kasai said, and poured another shot for each of them. "If you want to stop, I'd be fine with-"

"No, I am determined. This is our bonding moment." She said, and raised her shot glass again, clinking it against her companion's. "To penguins!"

"Penguins?" Kasai asked watching the woman down another shot, but then shrugged and did the same.

7.

The next morning, Kasai sighed annoyingly at her predicament.

Despite her extensive martial arts training, brutal past, and extensive magic knowledge… people liked cuddling her. Natsu, Gajeel, Lily, Kana, Sarah, Star, Comet….

Levy was no different.

Except, she was naked.

The red head opened her eyes, looking up at the white ceiling and thinking back to the previous night. She had been mostly sober for the evening, only tipsy for most of the night, and had the opportunity to see Levy drunk for the first time.

Like Kana, Levy had a habit of stripping when drunk, but was much more clumsy. The wizard, strangely, had tons of energy and absolutely no coordination whatsoever. Kasai had saved her from hitting her head several times, but knew that when she woke up, would be in lots of pain.

At the end of the night, when the red head tried to get her into bed, the naked woman latched onto her and pulled her onto the mattress with her. It wasn't sexual, and instead Levy treated her like a giant teddy bear, muttering "comfy" over and over again until she fell asleep.

 _I come over to fix things between her and Gajeel, only to get her drunk, naked, and cuddle._

Despite the awkwardness of it, it felt nice. Everytime Kasai had tried to get away, the girl tightened her grip, so Kasai eventually stopped trying to escape and allowed the little nude girl to cuddle up to her.

Given the red head's track record of having her female friends/family die, she liked having her so close.

8.

"Should we be concerned?" Natsu asked Gajeel two days later, both of them watching their girlfriends on the edge of the field. They were on a blanket enjoying the sunny weather, Levy reading her large book and leaning against Kasai, whose arms were wrapped around her waist. The red head was asleep, resting the side of her face against the nape of her neck; her dark green cloak was wrapped around them, keeping them warm against the cool breeze.

"Nah." Gajeel said with a shrug, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"According to levy, Kasai is super cuddly and comfortable." Lucy said, walking up from behind and stepping between them. "I think their new friendship is more like sisters than anything."

"I guess as long as Kasai gets some sleep, I shouldn't complain." Natsu commented with his own shrug.

"Yeah, she gets so mean when she's sleep deprived. Ever since the dark spell, she's sleeping at really odd hours." Lucy commented, groaning at the memory of Kasai almost killing her for unknowingly taking her donut.

"That explains a lot." Gajeel spoke, chuckling. "There aren't many people that Levy can talk nerdy with…. Levy gets intelligent conversation, and Kasai gets sleep. Seems like a win-win situation."

"It's kind of funny. Most of the Guild is scared of Kasai, yet she's more like a giant teddy bear." Lucy commented, smiling at the two girls across the field.

"Eh? Scared?" Natsu asked, making a face. "Why?"

"She's beaten all of the S-ranked wizards without even trying. Even I'm scared of her sometimes." Lucy admitted.

"I'm going to join them!" Kana said happily and starting to run towards Levy and Kasai, but was stopped when Gajeel grabbed the back of her shirt.

" _You_ are going to stay away from Kasai or I'll break your neck." Gajeel spoke, staying cold and stoic as the brunette pouted at him.

"I second that." Gray spoke after overhearing the last part of their conversation.

1.

"Why aren't you training?! We need to prepare for the competition!" Natsu yelled at his girlfriend, standing next to her with his arms crossed and shadow preventing sun light to reach her tanned skin. She scowled, looking up at him.

" _I_ train on a daily basis, not just when we have a competition coming up." She spoke, and sighed as she tried to sink into the sandy ground and ignore him. He grunted, annoyed, and not leaving. "I'm meditating, Natsu. This _is_ training for me. I need a stable mind in order to use my magic, not to mention repair the damage from that dark spell."

"How long are you going to use that spell as an excuse?"

"It literally shattered my mind, Natsu. I'm not in danger of turning dark anymore, but that doesn't mean that the spell has completely broken. There are side effects, and if I don't rest and-"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He said, and started to walk away, but yelped when Kasai grabbed his ankle and caused him to fall. As he fell, she maneuvered him to fall next to her, and jumped on him to straddle his waist with her legs.

"We'll fight later, okay?" She asked, sitting on his lower belly.

"Can we do something else?" He replied, wiggling his eyebrows and smiling.

"Get a room, you two." Erza stated as she walked past them, hitting Kasai on the head as she passed her, causing the woman to stick her tongue out at the retreating form.

2.

"The Celestial world is in grave danger, we need your help!" Virgo told them, the group gasping and staring at her with wide eyes.

"What?! What happened?!" Lucy asked. "What can we do to help?"

"You must come with me to the Spirit World. There's no time to explain." Virgo spoke, and without giving them much time to think about it, they were all transported to another realm.

When they arrived, and after they announced that the group had been tricked into entering the spirit world for a party, Kasai was surprised to find that the Celestial King knew of her. "You must be Kasai." The enormous man asked, his voice booming.

The red head raised her left eyebrow, arms crossed, and shifted her weight. "You know me by name?"

"Yes, I have heard a great deal about you. We have many things to discuss." He told her, his voice turning slightly more serious than before. "But we can talk later. I have a surprise for you." He said, and nodded his head towards the group of celestial spirits, encouraging the young woman to look at them.

Kasai turned her head to look at the crowd of spirits, not sure what to expect, and her eyes locked onto two in particular.

She forgot how to breathe.

Her mouth gaped slightly, entire body frozen in place, and it took her a moment to comprehend what she was seeing.

"She probably doesn't recognize us. I told you we should have worn our birthday suit." One of them spoke to the other, and at the sound of his voice, Kasai's face burst into a smile.

"You're alive!" Kasai screamed and ran towards them, happy tears flowing from her eyes as she launched herself at them. As she was pulled into a fierce hug and inhaled their familiar scent- lavender and incense.

"Holy crap, they're alive?!" Natsu asked.

"Star and Comet are the only humans to possess pure celestial magic. Their bodies were killed, but I managed to save their souls. They're celestial spirits now." The King explained, smiling at the happy trio.

"Let's get this party started!" Natsu yelled out, pumping his fist into the air and then running straight for the food.

2.

"So you've been alive this entire time?!" Kasai asked them sometime later, finding herself sitting between the twins. They were both well over two feet taller than her, extremely fit and tan, and unlike last they met, were wearing pants.

"Well, not exactly." Comet spoke. "The Blood Guild slaughtered our village, and we were taken prisoner to be experimented on. When we were killed, the Celestial King was able to interfere and save us."

"Did he save anyone else?"

"No, unfortunately." Star answered, and although it saddened her, it couldn't keep her spirits down. "We've been gaining intelligence on them over the years, though. Thanks to Lucy, it's been easy for us to transport to Earth land and investigate."

"What have you learned?" Kasai asked.

"They're using celestial magic to improve their necromancer magic." Star told her.

"As long as they have a piece of a wizard's body, they can summon and control them. The celestial King told us that if the body part used to summon them is destroyed, he can guide their souls to safety." Comet explained, and Kasai nodded.

"We haven't been able to learn very much," Star said sadly.

"Unfortunately." Comet added.

"But we did find something interesting in our investigation," They both said in unison, their sudden change in enthusiasm caused the red head to chuckle; but then they pulled out a picture from their pockets, and her face paled. "Who is this cutie?"

"Give me that!" She yelled, reaching for them but missing as they held it out of her reach.

"It doesn't look like Natsu,"

"I'd let him handcuff me any day." Star commented, causing the blush on Kasai's cheeks to redden. It was a picture of Gajeel and her on Halloween, posing for the cameras, and in one picture Gajeel was showing off his 'GUILTY' butt.

"Does Natsu know about this?"

"That happened when we were broken up- please don't show him!"

"I don't know…" The twins said mischievously, and the game began. The twins teased her mercilessly, and they wrestled trying to keep the pictures in their grasp.

"Star, that is quite undignified." One of the celestial spirits spoke, his shaded eyes looking down at the childlike actions of the trio on the ground. Kasai was in the middle of getting Star in a headlock, while Comet's back was beneath her knee and arm twisted in her grasp.

"Want to join us?" Star asked, winking up at him.

"Your name is Capricorn, right?" Kasai asked, smiling up at him cheekily.

"Yes, and that's my boyfriend that you have pinned down." He spoke, and she gasped, smiling widely.

"You two have boyfriends!?" The red head exclaimed, and screamed when the man beneath her jumped to his feet and caused her to launch into the air. When she fell back to the ground, Comet caught her in his arms while his brother gave his boyfriend a peck on the cheek. "Whose your boyfriend?"

"Cancer." He replied, blushing slightly.

"The crab spirit? He's cute!" She said, and then managed to twist and go back to fighting, managing to headlock him on the ground with her thighs.

3.

"Ha, I don't think I've ever seen you get your ass kicked in martial arts before." Natsu jested as he poked her leg, smiling at his girlfriend. She was sitting on Comet's shoulders, still smiling, and seemed perfectly at ease. The party had just ended and the group of wizards had gathered, getting ready to return home.

"I haven't been able to practice in… 7 years, I think?" Kasai replied, frowning when she felt a pair of hands grab her from behind and lift her from Comet's shoulders. After Star set her down, she pouted, causing the twins to laugh.

"You practice with me all the time!" Natsu yelled, regaining her attention.

"I mean with another martial arts enthusiast… most of the time I can just take someone out with my blood magic. It was awesome to finally be challenged in a fight." She chuckled, causing Natsu to frown slightly, but after a second of consideration, smiled.

"We'll try to visit soon. We don't have keys yet, but when we do, we're going to give them to Lucy." Star spoke, and both of them gave her one last hug.

"I'm so glad that you both are alive." She said softly, and after giving both of them a hug, Star ruffled her short hair.

"And we're glad that you're okay, too. You better stay that way, okay?" Comet told her, and she nodded. As they walked away, she jumped onto Natsu's back, causing him to chuckle as he gripped her thighs to keep her up.

"Thanks for wearing pants." Natsu told them, and they burst into laughter.


	26. Chapter 26

**Author's** **Note** : As always, thank you for the faves, follows, and reviews! Hope you like the chapter!

* * *

 **Chapter 26**

 _Put the Lotion in the Basket- Grand Magic Games part I_

"Are you kidding me?!" Gray yelled in astonishment, the rest of his team voicing the same response. They were standing in the arena, having just been announced to the crowd of spectators, and staring at their competition in astonishment.

"It appears that two Fairy Tail teams have made it to the finals, folks!" The announcer spoke, watching the two teams walk up to each other.

Kasai, Mirajane, Gajeel, Laxus, and Juvia stood as a team, smirking at team A.

"We're not going to go easy on you, alright?!" Natsu yelled, getting in Gajeel's face. "I'm going to kick your ass just like the other teams!"

"It looks like Natsu of team A is 'fired up'!" The announcer joked. "Isn't that his girlfriend on team B?"

"Hey, yeah! Why didn't you tell me about this!?" Natsu yelled, suddenly shifting his attention to Kasai, who had been standing only a few feet from him. She was adorned in her usual dark green cloak, but now there was a huge white symbol of her guild on the back.

"Sorry Natsu," The red head said, awkwardly rubbing the back of her head at her P.O.d boyfriend. "Makarov asked us not to tell you."

"Well, the same goes for you, anyway! I'm not going to hold back!" He yelled pointing at her, and poked at her shoulder.

"Touch me again and we'll test that theory." She warned, and not surprisingly, he poked her again. Without hesitance she punched his sternum, causing him to stagger backwards. Gray grabbed him by the arms, telling him to wait for the competition to start fighting.

"It doesn't look good to be fighting each other." Gray told him, and surprisingly, the dragonslayer calmed down.

"Are you _the_ Kasai!?" Someone asked, and the woman turned to see a slightly chubby, short woman standing a few feet away from her. She was a member of Mermaid Heel, and wore tribal styled clothing. Next to were was a spider woman and girl wearing overalls.

"My name is Kasai, yes." The red head replied, and suddenly recognized one of their team members standing a few yards away.

"You're our hero!" The spider girl stated, gaining Kasai's attention again. "You used to defend women on the streets, stood for equality and justice, and we all admired that. When you disappeared, we decided to step up and do the same!"

"When our guild was created we wanted you to join us, but you had disappeared." The larger woman stated. "You helped inspire our guild to be all women, for women."

"Oh?" Kasai asked, chuckling slightly as she smiled at them.

"Yeah! We all agreed that if you reappeared, we'd offer you a place at Mermaid Heel." The spider woman continued.

"That's very kind, but I already have a Guild. What are your names?" Kasai asked, still smiling kindly at them.

"I'm Arana," The spider woman stated.

"I'm Risley, and this is Beth." The larger woman stated. "I also wanted to thank you. You saved my sister 7 years ago." She said, and bowed.

"You're welcome." The red head replied. "Who is the woman with the sword over there?"

"Oh, Kagura? You recognize her?" Risley asked, and the red head nodded. "She said you two fought a while back. She's gotten a lot stronger since then."

"She's not going to try and kill me again, is she?"

"Hey, stop chatting with the enemy. We need to pick someone for the first round." Gajeel interrupted.

"We can talk later. It was nice meeting you!" Risley said as she waved, walking back to her group.

"It was nice meeting you guys, too." Kasai replied.

"You forget which team you're on?" The dragonslayer asked, glaring at her.

"I'm in Mermaid Heel, right?" She asked sarcastically, causing Gajeel to cross his arms and huff in annoyance.

"Since Gray is fighting, I'll fight!" Juvia stated passionately.

"Hey, you better not lose just because Gray is in this." Gajeel told her.

"I'll fight my hardest, don't worry." The blue-haired woman replied, her gaze set on Gray.

Kasai looked at the other teams, her gaze landing on Raven Tail, who appeared to have caused Wendy and Carla's injuries. One of them had remarkable green eyes, who pierced hers from across the field and caused an uneasy feeling to stir within her.

"I've got a bad feeling about Raven Tail." Kasai told Gajeel, who looked over at who she was talking about.

"After what they did to Wendy and Carla, they're not going to be standing by the end of the competition." He promised her. "Now shut up and focus on the game. We need to study our enemy."

1.

Day 1 of the games hadn't gone so well, and even though the Fairy Tail Guild was trying to stay positive, most of them were drowning away in alcohol or picking fights with each other. At the moment Kasai was sitting in the corner of the bar, watching Natsu pick fights with other members, and enjoying a light drink with Gajeel and Lily.

"Like you could have done any better than Juvia. Stop being so hard on her." Kasai lectured the dragonslayer, who merely huffed and took another sip from his drink.

"You saw her. As soon as Gray entered the arena, she was done."

"And how would you have beaten the game, huh? All you know how to do is punch things."

"Hey, not true!"

"So what would your brilliant plan have been, huh?" The red head asked, but was confused when she found him staring at someone walking into the bar. He was completely ignoring Kasai, captivated by the beautiful blond, much like the rest of the men in the room.

Sparkling blue heels clicked against the ground as she walked, and stopped when she paused in front of the table Natsu stood on. His fiery fist was in the air, his opponent on the ground with a bruise on his face, and he still had a victorious smile on his face. It took him a second to realize that the new woman was standing in front of him expectantly. "Nice hit." The woman spoke, her soft melodic voice somehow piercing through the loud bar and gaining almost everyone's attention.

"Thanks! Who are you?" He asked, confused by her presence. "You're not part of Fairy Tail."

"You're Natsu, right?" She asked, ignoring his question. Strips of blue fabric tugged at her hips and waist, falling slightly loose around her large breasts and thighs. Her blond hair was down and curled, and bright green eyes were locked on the dragonslayer. "Kasai's girlfriend?" She added.

"I- uh… are you a friend of hers?" The pink-haired man asked, and she smirked.

Kasai, getting a strange vibe from the woman, set her drink down and walked over to the pair. Their eyes were locked, Natsu caught off-guard by her presence while the blond was looking at him like a piece of meat.

"Can I help you?" Kasai asked politely, trying to get between the two without being too forward. Her cloak rippled slightly from the movement and breeze from outside.

As soon as the two women locked eyes, Kasai recognized them; however, they were with the wrong face. The 'too perfect' lips pulled into a smirk, making the red head further uneasy. The smell of perfume was so overwhelming it made her skin crawl. "You look uglier than I thought you would."

"Who the hell are you?" The Blood Dragonslayer asked, simultaneously shoving her back and standing square between her and Natsu.

She stumbled a bit at the force, but regained her footing quickly. She stood half a foot taller than Kasai. "So quick to violence- you really take after your mother." The woman chastised.

The sudden realization felt like smashing into a brick wall, the pieces of the puzzle clicking in her brain, and Kasai took a steady breath to calm her nerves. The red head smirked. "At least my mom taught me how to fight. Yours just taught you to take a beating."

Taiyo, or 'The Doctor', stopped smiling. Her eyes turned from amused to anger and confusion in an instant, rage showing through her beautiful green eyes.

Abruptly, her expression was hidden by a mask, and she smirked again.

"My name is Taiyo Kitsiki. By the end of this competition, you're going to die by my hand." She spoke, and at the threat, most of the bar quieted down.

"What the hell does that-" Natsu started to ask, but Lucy interrupted him.

"She's a member of Raven Tail!" The celestial wizard exclaimed, suddenly recognizing her and causing the entire Guild to stop what they were doing and focus on the exchange taking place.

"I don't know how people deal with death threats in Edolas," Kasai spoke, her voice steady and clear. "But if you intend to kill me, I will defend myself, and you will die." As she spoke, Natsu jumped down to stand beside her, but she gently pushed him back so that she was still between them.

"You know the kind of power I have. Those dead loved ones of yours that I sent? Your Mommy, Sarah, David…. That's only a small fraction of what I have in stored for you." The blond stated, unfazed by the angry wizards that were standing and getting ready to fight. Her gaze suddenly went to the shaking and obviously angry man at Kasai's side. "I was thinking about trying out pink hair next. How do you think I would look with-" Before she could finish her sentence, Kasai had reached out and grabbed her throat, then physically shoved her body into the table Natsu had been standing on.

Almost immediately another red head appeared, fire blazing and fist headed for Kasai's face. The summoning was so quick that Kasai only missed it by having her molasses spell catch the other woman's hand. She was frozen, the dead fire dragonslayer glaring at her daughter.

"Release her." Maki Kitsiki stated, eyes locked onto Kasai.

Kasai tightened her grip on Taiyo's neck, turning her attention back to her. The blond squirmed and gagged under her grip, but didn't seem frightened- just uncomfortable. "Hurt anyone in Fairy Tail, so much as touch a hair on their head, and I'll make sure that your death is as excruciatingly painful as possible. I've never tried using my blood magic for evil, but given the chance, I could rip you apart from the inside out; slowly, painfully, and so thorough you couldn't reattach a dead woman's limb even if you wanted to."

Roughly, the red head pulled her back to her feet and shoved her into Maki's arms, releasing the molasses spell simultaneously.

The blond was coughing and holding her throat as Maki held her up.

"If you don't kick her ass, I will." Natsu said, pushing against his girlfriend's hand that pressed against his chest.

"She's the Edolas version of me, Natsu." Kasai told him trying to keep him back. "Don't interfere."

"If you know what's good for you, you'll leave." Macai spoke up, being closest to Taiyo. "We're not too happy with your Guild, and-"

"Like I care what you think." Taiyo cut him off, now regaining her posture and standing up straight. "There can only be one Taiyo, and given my knowledge and magical superiority, I will win tomorrow in our match."

"Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out, _Frankenstein_." Kasai told her. Sarah's beautiful green eyes stared at her, a twitch in her left eye when the nickname left her lips. After all of the experimentation on hundreds of people, the vain woman had cut off the pieces of body she wanted and created a new body for herself. Since she had lost all of her limbs in Edolas and relied on prosthetic limbs, it was an upgrade to have actual limbs instead of fake ones again.

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?"

With a calm stare, Kasai caused needle of blood to shoot into her mother's head, scrambling her brains until she turned to dust. "Not a fan of kissing dead people."

The tension in the room was so thick they could cut it with a knife. Most of them barely saw the blood magic that entered the strange fire magic user, and thought that she had simply disappeared.

When her body guard had disappeared, Taiyo decided to make her leave by casting a teleportation spell and disappearing.

"Gaaah, I fucking hate those guys!" Natsu exclaimed, piercing the awkward silence and stumbling forward when the pressure on his chest disappeared.

"You said she was from Edolas?" Panther Lily asked as he jumped to the table closest to her, and was surprised by how much anger he saw in her face. She was trying to take deep breaths to calm down, but he could tell that it wasn't doing much good.

"Kasai, are you alright?" Lucy asked, stepping forward and looking at her friend with concern.

"What did she mean when-" Macai started to ask, but was cut off.

"I need to make a call." Kasai spoke abruptly, and without answering any questions, briskly walked out of the pub. Her hands nimbly pulled the hood over her head, thoughts racing over the unexpected guest.

 _She doesn't summon the spirits using keys. She uses their body parts._ Kasai thought solemnly, darting down an alleyway and losing the Guild Master that tried to follow her. She ran up the walls and continued her journey on rooftop. _Since I was instructed to destroy the keys in order to free the spirits… that means I have to destroy her._

 _I will not allow her to continue using the dead as her puppets._

The woman paused, looking up at the night sky. _She's not stupid enough to have done something so reckless without an ace up her sleeve… she had a weapon that she didn't reveal. My suspicion about the dark spell having an unwanted side effect may have been more than paranoia…._

About twenty minutes later she reached the hotel room of the military leader, whom she had been in close contact with since her return from the island. He had been trying to take the Blood Guild down for years, but as of yet, he hadn't made much progress.

1.

When she returned to her hotel room that night, the rest of her team was asleep.

She was part of Fairy Tail Team B; Juvia, Laxus, Gajeel, and Mirajane were all fast asleep in their beds. The sound of their rhythmic breathing helped calm Kasai's nerves as she sat in the darkness, sitting cross-legged on her twin bed. Her cloak still covered her body, further wrapping her flesh in shadows. Eyes shut, breathing even, heart steady, hands relaxed against her knees.

The smell of fire and sweat drifted to her nose, and she debated whether to take a shower before sleeping.

 _No_ , she thought, _I need to meditate and find any abnormalities in my body. When I fight Taiyo, I need to be focused._

"She's part of the Blood Guild, isn't she?" A voice whispered in the darkness, and Kasai opened one of her eyes to peek at the little cat in front of her.

"It's late, Lily. Why aren't you asleep?" She whispered back, trying not to wake the others.

"I heard you come in. Where were you?"

"Speaking to the authorities. I made an official statement about Taiyo's claim."

"Seriously?" He asked, surprised, and sat down in front of her.

"If she kills me, they'll be able to finally pin her down for murder. If I kill her, it'll be on the record as self-defense. Either way, however our battle ends, she won't be hurting anymore people." She explained, and closed her eyes again.

"That's… clever. It always surprises me when you mention the police, and how familiar you are with them."

"The idea of military and policemen are that they protect people, and fight in the interest of the people. If I hadn't joined Fairy Tail, I would have joined the police academy."

"So why hasn't this woman been arrested yet?"

"She's smart. For years, she's gotten away with murdering hundreds of people and stealing their body parts for herself. The main reason they haven't caught her is likely because she changes her appearance so often."

"So when you called her 'Frankenstein'…"

"Natsu told me that she was killed in Edolas, but I think she was just severely injured. She lost either most or all of her limbs and used magic powered prosthetics; it's because of that magic that she was transported to Earthland. Instead of continuing to use prosthetics, she used the body parts of her victims to replace hers. Simultaneously, she also uses those body parts to summon their spirits and do her bidding."

"Do you have a plan for your battle with her?"

"Yes."

"If you die tomorrow, I'll kicking your ass." Gajeel suddenly spoke, his gruff voice startling the two and causing them to look at him. He was laying on the bed next to them now facing them, while the others on the opposite side of the room. His gaze met hers through the darkness, piercing through her calm demeanor and reminding her once again of a wild animal.

Kasai took a calming breath, trying to regain her composure; she smirked at him through the darkness. "Good. If that happens, I'll deserve it."

DAY 3

"'Pandemonium'?" Kasai read out loud, her curiosity piqued at the ominous and chaotic word. "Dibs." She said quickly with no opposition. In the corner of her eye, she saw Erza step forward.

"Good luck, Kasai!" Mirajane said sweetly, Juvia saying the same.

"Thanks." The red head said, and went out to join the other contestants on the field. They grouped together to hear the rules of the round.

As the pumpkin explained the rules for fighting 100 monsters, Kasai couldn't help but be excited. Assuming she got to go first, she decided that she would choose to fight 75. That way she would ultimately be the winner, but there would be enough left over for the rest to fight.

The idea of just brutality destroying things without holding back sounded great to her. She hated having to use her brain all the time.

That's one of the things she liked about fighting Natsu. She didn't need to focus on strategies or strange magics- just dodging and punching.

"This is going to be fun." She said, but when she pulled her number from the pile, groaned. "Last? That's bullshit." The red head said, and then looked over at Erza's number.

She was first.

"How many are you taking on?"

"All of them." She said with a nonchalant shrug.

Kasai pouted. "Come on, can't you save a few for me? If you fight 75, that'll garauntee your first place and-"

"Nope." Erza interrupted, furthering the other woman's pout. "This _is_ a competition." She reminded Kasai, who sighed and regained her composure.

"Whatever." She said, crossing her arms and looking over at Natsu.

Ever since the competition started, they hadn't had any alone time together. Since there's a 'free day' in between day 4 and 5, she hoped that they would be able to hang out then, but at the moment she wanted nothing more than disappear with him.

She still wore her cloak, and beneath it, her hands found their way into her pockets.

"How many monsters will you fight, Erza?" The pumpkin asked as she stepped forward.

"I choose…. 100." She said, and the crowd gasped and awed at her.

Kasai snorted. "Hey, after she beats them up, can you add an extra 50 or so for us to fight?" She asked, but was ultimately ignored as the pumpkin tried to talk Erza out of her decision.

"Ha, sucks for you." Gajeel said on the sidelines, which Kasai caught with her heightened hearing, and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Go fuck yourself."

"Someone is frustrated."

"By the end of the day I'm kicking someone's ass. Keep talking and it'll be yours." She told him, and crossed her arms as she turned her attention back to the fight. As Erza entered the gastle, she couldn't help but feel jealous as the red head stormed the castle, showing off her magic and kicking ass.

Deep down, Kasai was impressed by her power, but couldn't help imagining herself fighting.

"That looks like so much fun…"

"That looks _fun_ to you? Is everyone in Fairy Tail insane?!" Nobarly, the wizard from Quatro Puppy asked.

"If by 'insane' you mean 'awesome', then yes. Yes we are." She replied, causing the cat woman from Mermaid Heel to laugh.

"You and Erza are the most powerful women in Fairy Tail, right?" Millianna asked, joining the conversation.

"Yeah. Mirajane would likely be third." She told her, remembering an earlier conversation she had with Erza. Erza, after discovering who Millianna was and her true intentions, told Kasai about it. Given the sensitivity of the topic she'd requested secrecy on the matter. "What's your name again?"

"Millianna." She replied. "I've heard a lot about you."

"It seems that your guild knows a lot about me." Kasai replied, and she laughed awkwardly.

"Not exactly. There's a lot of women in our guild that are fans of you- when you disappeared, you became a martyr of sorts."

"Weird." Kasai admitted, causing the cat to laugh, but then return her attention to the fight.

Once the battle was over, and there were no more monsters to fight, they resorted to merely measuring the magical strength of the remaining wizards.

"Seriously? You're just going to resort to this crap? Just create more monsters!" Kasai asked, but the pumpkin wouldn't budge of the subject.

"It would take too much time to repair the damage that Erza did."

"All you'd have to do is reset it- maybe 30 seconds at most to reboot it. It's basically a hologram. All it'd cost you is some magic."

"Millianna, since you drew '2', you go first!" The pumpkin said, ignoring the red head, and causing her to sulk.

"What a jip…" Kasai muttered, but wandering off to the side so that the cat woman could do her attack.

It felt like forever until her turn, since she was last.

"Hey, I'm not going to lose points if I break it, will I?"

"No. Now stop complaining and just attack it!"

"Someone's impatient today." Kasai talked back, but nonetheless readied her attack. Her entire body became enflamed, and her cloak rippled in waves from the energy. She focused her blood magic to her fist so that when she punched the device, it would sense a portion of the energy stored in her blood.

She ran forward and punched the magically measuring device, and then jumped back.

"50,000?!" The pumpkin screamed, similar reactions echoing through the audience.

"Have you ever seen something like this, Lahar?" The announcer asked.

"… no, I haven't." He spoke after a moment, and suddenly the crowd erupted in cheers.

"Fairy Tail no doubtedly has strong contenders this year." The man between them stated.

"Kasai gets second place, getting her team 9 points!" The announcer yelled, furthering the cheers from the crowd.

1.

At the end of the fight with Kagura and the celestial wizard, Kasai yelled out to her. "Kagura!"

Surprisingly, the woman turned, her eyes locking with her.

"Nice footwork!" The red head yelled, smirking, and laughed with the woman mirrored her smirk and went back to her team.

"'Footwork'?" Gajeel asked.

"She tried to kill me a while back. If she was this strong when she'd attacked me, I don't know if I would have survived." She admitted, surprising her team.

"She tried to kill you?"

"Back when Tanashimi had a bounty out for me." She explained, and took a deep breath.

The red head locked eyes with the green ones across the stadium- Raven Tail.

"Looks like you're up, Kasai. Be careful." Mirajane told her.

"If you die, I'll kill you." Gajeel said, and uncharacteristically, Kasai ignored them and started walking to the middle of the arena.

Kasai Kitsiki vs. Taiyo Kitsiki

Their sniper was on the rooftop ready to shoot the Raven Tail Guild Master if he tried to interfere with the match, and the rest of their guild was on guard in case they pulled another dirty trick. Since the last one-on-one battle with Raven Tail went so badly, they were extra observant and ready to stop the match if they needed to. The guest speaker was the military leader, which helped the matter.

Kasai had ordered everyone to not interfere in the match, no matter what. At least, she requested they not enter the arena, so that she wouldn't have to worry about them getting hurt while she fought.

The two Taiyo's were now facing each other on the battlefield.

The Doctor was wearing white short shorts and a light blue bikini top. Her shoes were the same as the other day, sparkling against the sun and making her several inches taller. Her long beautiful locks of hair were tied back in a pony tail, and almost every person in the audience was dazzled by her beauty.

"This match is Taiyo Kitsiki verses Kasai Kitsiki! Are they sisters, I wonder?"

"No," the guest speaker spoke into the microphone. "Well, not exactly. Biologically they're twins, but they didn't grow up together."

"Only one of us will survive this match!" Taiyo announced, causing the audience to become uneasy.

"Am I hearing this right? We're having our second death match today?" The announcer asked. "This is our second female match today, and it looks like it'll be just as intense as the other one!"

"I don't know much about either fighter, but I do know that Kasai is one of the strongest in Fairy Tail." The wizard sitting next to the announcer spoke, watching the two wizards in interest. "Kasai, also known as the Gecko, uses the same magic as Natsu."

"They're a couple, aren't they?"

"They were featured in _Sorceror_ _Weekly_ as the 'hottest couple' 7 years ago." The guest speaker spoke. "The Salamander and Gecko; both of them are formidable wizards on their own, but together I can't even imagine the damage they could cause."

"It looks like the battle is about to begin!" The announcer spoke, and not even a second after the pumpkin creature gave the signal for the fight to start, explosions erupted from Kasai's body.

Blood spattered in all directions, the explosions seeming to have been in several places around her body. The audience gasped and some people threw up from the sight.

Kasai stayed standing, her jaw tightened and pain coursing through her body. She felt the bombs activate in her body soon enough to navigate them to the outside of her main organs, but couldn't get them out soon enough to avoid damage. Her left arm fell to the ground with a dull thud and blood poured from her open injuries.

"I wouldn't use your blood or fire magic if I were you." Taiyo said with a smile, giggling at the sight. Their eyes were locked, Kasai's looking intense while Taiyo looked amused. "If you use those magics, they'll explode."

"Holy crap, I'm not sure what happened, but Kasai is severely injured! It looks like this fight may be over!"

"Don't count her out just yet." The guest speaker spoke into the microphone, although nervous behind his calm appearance.

From the sidelines, Natsu and the others kept cheering her on.

"I don't need either of those magics to defeat you." Kasai grit out, trying to stand straight and look stronger than she felt. Due to her training she could within losing large quantities of blood, but the loss of her arm would drain her blood much faster than the other shallower injuries.

"Is that so?" Taiyo asked, and giggled again. Suddenly hundreds of wizards appeared, completely filling the field, surrounding Kasai and staring her down.

"Is that a summoning spell?! I've never seen anyone summon so many things at once!"

"Yeah." Kasai replied to Taiyo's question, smirking, and punched her right fist into the ground. "Sinkhole." She spoke, and suddenly the entire field turned to mud.

Every dead wizard in the arena was pulled into the ground and drained of their magic. Taiyo was pulled down so that her lower half was submerged, along with her hands, but otherwise was free.

Now that she was the only wizard above ground, Kasai launched herself forward, skating across the mud towards her opponent. "That's not possible!"

"It appears that fire magic isn't the only thing this girl can do!" The announcer yelled.

Kasai's palm landed on Taiyo's forehead, smacking against it and causing her to stop moving. If Taiyo's hands weren't restrained, she would have bent backwards from the force.

"Reverse toxins." Kasai spoke, and Taiyo screamed as the spell started. The tiny organisms in Kasai's body that prevented her from using fire and blood magic were being transferred to Taiyo's, and when the process was complete, the red head was able to reattach her left arm and bring the lost blood back into her blood stream.

Before she could cast another spell, a hand grabbed the back of her shirt and yanked her back, causing her to fly backwards. When her foot made contact with the ground she jumped up into the air and flipped backwards. While in the air, she was able to see her new opponents.

She guessed that they had been summoned when she made contact with The Doctor, much like her molasses spell.

Kasai decided to set her body on fire. Because of the small bombs her clothing was torn, but still intact. She began the fight wearing a black sports bra and her usual loose shorts, but now they were short shorts with hanging fabric and brown sports bra.

"There's the fire magic we heard about earlier! Ladies and gentlemen, she's on fire today, literally!"

"Kill her! Kill her!" Taiyo screamed at the four wizards that stood near her, all of whom were crouched and ready to fight. Kasai instantly recognized them as monks from the temple.

"Sorry," Kasai said, and used her blood magic to scramble their brains.

Almost instantly they drifted into the wind like dust, causing Taiyo to stare wide eyed at the scene unfolding. "No, no, no! I'm smarter! I'm more beautiful!" The blond screamed, watching with teary green eyes as Kasai walked towards her. "I'll kill you for this! And all your little friends at Fairy Tail! I'll cut them apart, I'll-"

Her voice stopped when Kasai's palm met her forehead again. "I can't allow that to happen. I'll do whatever it takes to protect my friends."

"When Kiken and your father join forces, you won't be able to protect anyone. I'm going to kill you."

"1000 days of darkness." Kasai said softly, speaking of Taiyo's words, and causing 72 spell circles to appear over her head. As the spells appeared, they progressively got larger as they reached the top.

"I've never seen so many spells cast at the same time!" The announcer yelled.

"Neither have I." The bearded man stated, the entire audience shocked into silence.

Taiyo was still yelling threats when the first round of magic hit her. Lightning rained down from the top spell, causing her to scream out in pain as the magic tunneled into her body.

Next was fire, and as each spell collapsed on the other and added to the power, the attack became even more powerful. It was overkill, as the woman was killed by the 5th spell, but Kasai wouldn't take any chances.

This by far the most deadliest spell she had ever created, and she used the magic stored in her blood. This wasn't even a fraction of the power she held, yet people felt it for miles around.

By the end, _nothing_ was left of Taiyo's body.

No dust, no DNA- nothing that could allow her resurrection. Nothing to keep her spirits tied to this world any longer.

As Kasai stood, straightening her posture and looking around as the spirits reappeared.

Only twenty or so appeared around her, all of whom were smiling and bowing their heads. Half of them were monks, while the others were their students.

"Thank you for releasing us." They all spoke.

"We're sorry for attacking you. And we're sorry for all the destruction we were forced to do." The tallest monk spoke, turning and bowing to the audience. "We're so sorry."

"Are you the only ones that were released?" Kasai asked, confused and turning to look around her, trying to find the face of her mother or childhood friends.

"They have distributed their body parts to multiple people to prevent their release. You'll have to defeat several people in the Blood Guild to release them." He explained, and Kasai's heart sunk.

"Taiyo has been suspected of working for the Blood Guild for some time, but we've never been able to prove it." The guest speaker spoke, causing half the audience to audibly gasp and whisper. "Taiyo and several other members of the Guild have been using the corpses of their victims to fight. The spirits we see right now are the ones that she saved from further slavery and torture."

"That is quite the dark development." The announcer spoke, and watched as the twenty spirits turned to light and vanished into thin air. "The Blood Guild, if you viewers didn't know, is a dark guild that has been eluding capture."

"If anyone has information on them, please contact your nearest police station. As you've seen today they are extremely dangerous, and we're doing our best to take them down."

"Anyway, the winner is Kasai! Her team gets 10 points!"

The crowd cheered, and Kasai punched the air above her, smirking. "Fairy Tail is going to win!" She yelled, and then started walking to the exit.

 _When Kiken and your father join forces, you won't be able to protect anyone._ Those words repeated in her head, and a sigh escaped her lips. Worrying about Kiken was bad enough, and she had never thought that he was after Zeref, but it didn't surprise her. Whether Zeref had any interest in joining him was a different story, though.

She entered the dark corridor on the edge of the field, her hands finding their way to her pants pockets. What was left of them, anyway.

As she walked down the dimly lit hallway, she heard the soft padder of footsteps coming towards her. A few seconds later and Natsu appeared, running towards her full force with a smile on his face.

They collided, their bodies smashing together loudly in a hug. Their arms wrapped around each other, gripping each other tightly.

Her nails dug into the fabric of his shirt.

"You did great." Natsu said, and she pressed the side of her face against his, closing her eyes.

All of a sudden, everything crashed within her. Her confident façade, her reasoning, her strength. She felt weak.

The tears appearing in her eyes wouldn't stop.

"I killed her." She choked out, and Natsu held her up.

He stood there; strong, solid, and stable.

He hated to see those tears.

"Yeah." He said, and stroked her short hair. "I know that you haven't been telling me everything. About what they've done to you, your family, and old friends," Natsu spoke, his voice soft. "But I do know you, and I trust your judgment. You would never have done that if there was an alternative."

She held him close, clinging to his warmth and quietly crying on his shoulder.

When she was strong enough to stand, he moved his hands to the sides of her wet face and moved her so that he could look into her eyes. "We're going to take them down, Kasai. I promise." He said, and placed a kiss on her forehead.

3.

After watching the rest of the battles, she went back to the hotel room to change clothes. She changed into a form fitting t-shirt with white and orange stripes, along with a pair of jeans. For once she left her cloak behind, not feeling like wearing any of her fighting clothes.

She decided to take a slightly obscure path to the bar, going down various empty alleyways. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach as she walked, her nerves going wild at the thought of how she'd be received by her guild. Since the fight she'd only talked to Natsu and briefly to the rest of her team, who seemed awkward but supportive.

When she was a block away from the bar, a cloaked figure appeared in the alleyway she was walking down, and stopped in front of her.

They were completely shrouded in darkness, and despite the sunny weather, she couldn't see any distinguishable features beneath his hood.

"That was an impressive spell." He said, the simple compliment causing her entire body to stiffen.

"What are you doing here?" She blurted, staring at him incredulously.

"I came to offer you a place at my side. Your power isn't something that I can ignore." He spoke, tilting his head slightly so that she could see his red eyes.

The second half of his sentence almost sounded like a threat, but she tried to reason in her mind that it wasn't. Even though she couldn't sense his magic, she was still uneasy about his presence, and could practically feel the darkness of his soul. "My loyalty is with Fairy Tail." She stated, louder than she intended.

' _When Kiken and your father join forces, you won't be able to protect anyone.'_

"Do you intend to join the Blood Guild?" She added, her heart racing in her chest.

"Not at this time." He stated. "I find him rather repulsive."

"What are you planning?" She asked, barely managing to keep eye contact with him.

And then he was gone.

He disappeared into the shadows, his body melding into the darkness.

And she was left there standing, her eyes locked onto the place he used to be, heart racing in her chest.

' _Your power isn't something I can ignore.'_ Kasai was now on Zeref's radar.

So not only had she just killed the leading scientist of the Blood Guild, but she also got the attention of the most legendary wizards of all time.

She sighed.

Being hunted down by Tanashimi suddenly felt like a warm up compared to this.

"Well… good a time as ever to drink." She said with a shrug, and continued her journey to the bar. "If everything is going to hell in a basket, might as well enjoy they time I have left."

When she entered the bar that her Guild had been meeting at, she was surprised to be greeted by cheers and merriness. The entire guild was buzzing with excitement and happiness, people were playing on wagons and breaking things, minor fights were breaking out- it was the most joyous she had seen them since before Tenrou Island.

It felt like a guild again.

"To Kasai!" Natsu suddenly said, raising his glass to her. The rest of the guild copied him, causing her to blush. "For taking down Raven Tail!" He said, and although the last part confused her, she still smiled and laughed.

"I didn't take down the entire guild, but thank you." She said, but Gray walked up to her.

"Actually, you did. After your fight, they were disqualified for having ties to the Blood Guild. Turned out that another member was actually a Blood Guild member, and they also found out that the masked man was actually their Guild Master." He told her, and although she was surprised, still couldn't help the grin from encompassing her face.

"Those guys were ass holes. I'm glad they're out of the game."

"That spell of yours was impressive." A new voice spoke, causing her to turn and see Jelal. He was dressed as Mystogan, and had been in close contact with her and the other high ranking members of Fairy Tail the past few days. "It was extremely powerful… it also felt remarkably like Zeref's magic."

"I'm not going to reveal the secrets of my magic, but I will say it's possible that his magic got mixed in with mine." She said, trying to be as vague as possible. The sound of his name out loud unnerved her, and it was difficult to fight back the memories of her day.

"You use other people's magic to power your own, then."

"In a sense." She said, suddenly feeling awkward and wondering if she should tell him about her recent encounter.

"Kasai, you did awesome today!" Levy suddenly exclaimed, running up to her and pulling her into a hug. "You were amazing!" She said as she took a step back, smiling widely at her.

"Thanks." Kasai replied, thankful for the interruption.

4.

That night, Natsu and Kasai had managed to escape their guild and walk around the town after dark. After a half hour of walking around town, they'd found themselves in an empty park.

The stars were beautiful that night, sparkling wonderfully in the dark sky.

"You seem distracted." Natsu said after a while.

Their hands were locked, and had kept some form of contact through their walk. Even though both of them wanted nothing more than to jump each other and have a quickie in the mostly empty park, the risk of someone interrupting was too great, and both of them were particularly private about their sex life. "Sorry." She apologized, looking from the night sky above them to the sparkling brown eyes looking at her.

"Why don't you trust me?" He asked, the sudden change in tone catching her off-guard.

"I do trust you."

"Then why do you keep so many secrets?" He asked, and although she could hear the hurt in his voice, she couldn't see it in his eyes. He looked more curious than anything.

"I don't tell you things not because I don't trust you." She spoke softly. "I just know you very well. You attacked the Sabertooth Guild tonight because they were mean to one of their guild members." A smile fluttered to her lips, and a similar one met his.

"If they hadn't stopped me, I would have kicked their asses."

"I don't doubt it. Your passion is one of the many things I love about you." She said, but suddenly he frowned.

"So you think I'm too stupid to hear whatever you're going through?" He asked, letting go of her hand. She reached out and grabbed it.

"Of course not. I think that if you attack an entire guild for making a girl you don't know cry, how are you going to react to someone making _me_ cry?" She asked, and he tightened his grip on her hand.

"We're partners, remember?" He asked. "I can handle whatever is going on. I want to be there for you."

"And you are." Kasai said, reaching for his other hand. "You keep me strong."

"I want to know." He said, averting his gaze to her neck. "I want to know." Natsu repeated.

"Okay." She told him, causing his shocked gaze to meet hers. "What do you want to know?"

"When we were inside your mind during the dark spell," He spoke. "What did you let Gajeel see?"

"… so that whole speech was just to one up Gajeel?" She asked, a sweatdrop forming on her forehead.

"And Gray! And Lucy! All I did was punch your mom and talk to a 4 year old. They're all super secretive about what went on with you, and I want to know! You're my girlfriend, and it's not fair that you tell _our_ friends and not me!" He told her, and she blinked, not expecting the outburst.

"I didn't realize that you were so bothered by it." She admitted, and looked away, noticing that there was a bench nearby. "Let's sit down and talk then. I'll tell you everything I let them see." Kasai said, and guided them to the bench.

She criss-crossed her legs under her and sat sideways, so that she was facing him. He sat relatively normally, facing her with one of his arms resting against the back of the bench.

"We'll start with Lucy." Kasai spoke. "I took her to the time that my mom died. I was in the hospital alone, the only people to interact with were her killer and the man that hired him. Since she lost her father recently, I figured that it was a good fit." She explained, and he nodded.

"That explains why she's been trying to hang out with you so much lately."

"With Gray and Gajeel… both of those are much darker memories." She explained, and he frowned.

"The one with Gray had something to do with Kana."

"Sometime after someone looking like you broke up with me, Kana…" Her words trailed, trying to think of the best way to explain it. "I'll tell you the memory Gajeel went to instead." She decided after a moment. "When I told you that Kiken and I dated, I wasn't telling you the whole truth."

"What do you mean?" He asked, eyebrows furrowing.

"He took me out to lunch and used magic to manipulate me into having sex with him." She said quickly, and as she watched him, could see the gears in his head turning.

"He took advantage of you?" He asked after a minute or so of trying to comprehend her fast words, eyes wide and enraged. Things started to click in his head, remembering her vague and cryptic statements in the past, and remembering her tears. His memory wasn't the greatest, but he remembered their fight about their first time having sex, and how he had found her crying by a river with Happy.

"Yes."

"I'm going to kill him!" Natsu yelled, the dragonslayer jumping to his feet and fire magic activating. "Tell me where he is!"

"If I knew that, he'd already be in the ground." She said, slightly annoyed by his reaction.

"Kiken, get out here so that I can hit you!" He yelled at the top of his lungs and running full speed in a random direction.

"Natsu, get back here!"

"Kiken, get our here so that I can kick your ass!" The man yelled, but then was tackled to the ground by his girlfriend. They both stood up again, but she grabbed him by the shoulder to make him look at her.

"Lahar hasn't been able to catch him for 8 years, you think just yelling his name is going to make him magically appear?!"

"Well it's worth a try!"

"That's just stupid!"

"Maybe if you tried with me-"

"If you think he was _that_ easy to find, don't you think I would have caught him by now?!"

"Maybe you weren't yelling loud enough!"

"This is why I didn't tell you in the first place!" She screamed, causing him to pause. "He's been getting away with mass murder, Natsu, and has an army of dead people at his disposal. I don't want you to end up part of that army." She said, her voice cracking. The air suddenly felt cold to her, and she didn't realize she was crying until Natsu's warm hand cupped the side of her face.

After a moment of just standing there, his eyes shadowed by his hair, he finally spoke again. "When we find him, I'll make him pay."

A smile tugged at her lips, watching his fire magic dissipate. "Good."

They decided to walk back to the bar, and before she knew it, he was back to his old self.

That night, even though the team protested it, they slept in the same bed. It was small, and they didn't do anything sexual, but Natsu held her close.

He was determined to protect her, and even though she was stronger, the feeling of someone watching for her set her at ease.

It didn't matter who their enemy was.

They would win.

DAY 4

"I don't want Kasai to compete." Natsu stated the next morning, causing the other guild members to gape at him.

"That's stupid, Natsu! She's one of our strongest wizards!" Makarov stated, and the other wizards present had similar reactions.

"Natsu, what's with you? Ever since yesterday, you've been extra protective of her. She can handle herself." Lucy spoke, but Natsu wouldn't budge. He stood next to Kasai, his arms crossed and determination on his face.

"Yeah, stop being an idiot." Gajeel added.

"That's fine with me." Kasai said with a shrug, not entirely surprised by her boyfriend's protectiveness; ever since their conversation the night before, he had been extra clingy and protective. Although it got on her nerves every once in a while, she knew that he just cared about her. "Although my magic is in tact, my body took a lot of damage yesterday. I don't mind sitting out today."

"Tch, yeah right. You've taken worse beatings than that."

"Not really, actually." Kasai replied honestly. "The dark spell they cast on me a few months ago harbored tiny bombs that exploded on her command."

"What about the time you were literally chopped into tiny pieces? You got your head chopped in half, and you were fine afterwards." Gray spoke up.

"Yeah, and I was unconscious for half the day. Not to mention I was weakened for my fight against Kiken, and consequently got hit by the dark spell." She explained.

"Is that really the reason why you don't want to fight?" The first guild master asked, her gaze locking with hers.

Ever since the ghost had appeared, Kasai couldn't help but feel like the woman hated her. She was cute and adorable around everyone else, but as soon as they locked eyes, her happy gaze turned into a glare.

"Well, part of the reason." The red head admitted, an awkward chuckle escaping her lips.

"Does the other part of your reason have anything to do with your conversation with Zeref on Tenrou Island?" Mavis asked, and Kasai's body froze.

She hadn't even considered that the ghost knew about that.

Kasai was so shocked by the question, she didn't know how to respond.

"What conversation? What have you gotten yourself into now?" Makarov asked, glaring at the young girl.

She gaped at the ghost, trying to find the words to respond to her, mind racing for the right response. "I understand if you want me to leave the Guild."

"What?" Natsu asked, turning to her with wide eyes.

"I don't care about your ties to him, so long as you're loyal to Fairy Tail and keep that knowledge secret." The ghost spoke, and Kasai let out a shaky breath, nodding.

"Since you know about that, do you know what happened yesterday as well?" Kasai asked, trying to ignore Makarov's livid expression. "I've been debating on whether to tell people about it or not."

"You mean the spell that you cast?" Mavis asked, and Kasai shook her head.

"When I was walking here yesterday, Zeref cornered me in an alley. He said 'Your power isn't something I can ignore'." She told her, and the group fell into silence.

"You've been communicating with Zeref!?" Makarov yelled at the top of his lungs, but the woman ignored him, keeping her gaze locked with Mavis.

"Makarov, don't be so hard on her. I don't believe that she's working with him; but instead, he sees her as a threat." The first guild master spoke, causing the man to be quiet. "Given your upbringing, and parents, it's no surprise that you've made such powerful enemies."

"I don't care about any of this crap. I just don't want Kasai to compete today!" Natsu yelled, interrupting the tense conversation and causing everyone to calm down a bit.

"Your girlfriend has been chatting with the most evil wizard of all time and you don't care?" Gray asked, only to get punched in the face by the dragonslayer.

"I talked to him on Tenrou Island, too! It doesn't mean shit!" He yelled. "Kasai is a member of Fairy Tail. I can't believe that anyone in our Guild would willingly work with Zeref, so let's just go to the competition already and fight!"

Makarov suddenly hit Kasai over the head. "Blood magic, Zeref- what am I going to do with you?!"

"How about you STOP HITTING ME!?"

1.

Kasai cheered as loud as she could from the sidelines, watching her boyfriend fight against the fellow dragonslayers with Gajeel by his side. "Go Natsu!" The red head cheered, enjoying the fight.

"Why aren't you with the rest of your team, Kasai?" Levy asked, looking up at her. She wasn't at the meeting that morning, so she had no idea what had transpired.

"I didn't feel like fighting today, so I let Kana take my place." She explained with a shrug, trying to act nonchalant about it.

As the battle of the dragonslayers progressed, she couldn't help but be proud of Natsu. As the others pointed out, he truly was powered by his emotions, and watching his power grow exponentially against his opponents gave her hope for the future.

To be honest with herself, if Natsu wasn't this powerful, she probably wouldn't date him. Not because she was shallow, but because if her enemies attacked him, she knew he'd be able to hold his ground. She loved him, and if anything happened to him, she didn't know what she'd do.

After the match, she rejoined him in the medical room, where Lucy and the others were waiting. Lucy had been beaten up pretty bad by the Sabertooth woman, and after the crap they've been pulling, it was a relief for everyone when Natsu wiped the floor with their most powerful wizards.

"How are you feeling?" Kasai asked Lucy.

"I'm doing better." She replied, a soft smile on her lips.

"Kasai, may I speak to you for a moment?" Carla asked the woman, quietly tugging at her cloak. The red head nodded, quietly disappearing unnoticed. When the two were in the outside hallway, away from the others, Kasai looked at her expectantly.

"What do you need to talk about?"

"Porlyusica suggested I talk to you. I've been having visions that I don't know what to make of." The white cat spoke, awkwardly looking at the ground. Kasai sighed, putting her hands in her pockets. "Porlyusica said you're good at interpreting things."

"I'm good at a lot of things. Including keeping secrets." She spoke, and given the cat's awkward disposition, Kasai sat down with her back against the wall and legs folded beneath her. She smiled at Carla. "What is it that you want me to interpret?"

"I've been having these very odd visions." She started. "The city is crumbling, Mercurius falls, there's a white knight… so much chaos. And in the middle of it, Lucy is singing."

"Do you have any idea when this calamity will occur?"

"No. But I believe that it will happen soon." She replied, watching the woman's expression carefully. Carla didn't know much about Kasai, but from what she did know, she seemed like a capable fighter and very knowledgeable on many topics. She deducted more about Wendy's healing and air magic than any other person, and even though her abilities made most people nervous, she'd seen first hand that she was a kind person. On her first mission with Wendy, she got severely injured trying to save her life, and Carla wasn't about to forget it any time soon.

"Have you ever prevented your visions from occurring?"

"No. They're so cryptic, I usually have no idea how to prevent them." She explained, and Kasai nodded.

"Great." Kasai sighed. "Well, at least now I _know_ that shit is going to go down. I'll put together some protection spells and give them out to our guild. If we can't prevent whatever is going to happen, maybe we can reduce the damage."

"What do you make of Lucy's singing?"

"For all we know, there could be a singing portion of the competition, and the attack happens when she's singing. Without more information, I don't know what to make of it. Do you know what she was singing?"

"No… but do you know what my vision means? Do you have insight to it?"

"Zeref and the Blood Guild have been in this city the past day, not to mention Makarov's son's guild participating in the games. It doesn't surprise me that destruction ends up happening." Kasai spoke, and Carla looked at the ground again. "Thank you for telling me, Carla."

She looked up, their eyes locking.

"We may not be able to prevent whatever happens, but we can reduce the damage and try to save our friends. All we can hope is to do our best." The red head said with a kind smile, and after a moment, Carla reciprocated the grin.

"You don't seem worried about what's going to happen."

"As long as I have my friends, I'm not scared of what the future holds." Kasai told her, the grin never leaving her face. "How about we go to the library and do some research for protection spells? They have some books on ancient magic that I've been dying to read. Afterwards we can go buy supplies for the charms."

"I've never made protection charms before. Are they difficult?"

"Depends on the kind you make." She said with a shrug. "I can teach you."

"I… think I'd like that." Carla replied, feeling at ease for the first time in days.

"I'll go tell the others where we're going, and then we can head out."


	27. Chapter 27

**Author's Note:** Happy Holidays! As always, thank you everyone for the feedback, faves, and follows!

 **Chapter 27**

 _Bite Me- Grand Magic Games part II_

"You can actually understand this?" Carla asked, watching the wizard speed read through the books using her glasses. The woman had a notebook next to her, and she'd already filled 5 pages with notes of various spells, ingredients, side effects, variations, etc.

Carla was also using magical glasses to increase her reading speed, but it hadn't done much good. Every time she found a spell that looked useful for them to use, she'd show it to Kasai, and she'd politely point out the flaws in the spell. They'd been looking at a mix of newer books and older ancient books, and Kasai found herself drawn to the older books, given they were her forte. "I've been reading ancient books since I was… 6, maybe? I have a knack for it."

"It's quite the talent."

Kasai shrugged. "Thank you, but I grew up with people that were much at this than I am. They were all killed, granted… but I've met a few wizards that can adapt to different magic better than I can."

"Like me." A new voice spoke, and they looked up to see a member of Sabertooth standing there. He wore a theater style outfit, wearing an overly large and fluffy feather on his hat. "Have you memorized all of that?"

"The important parts. Do you have a photographic memory?"

"I wish." He said, taking a seat across from them. They were sitting at a simple table, books sprawled out, Carla and Kasai sitting adjacent to each other.

"You're a member of Sabertooth, aren't you?" Carla asked, and he nodded with a smile.

"Yes. And I suspect that you have a similar ability that I do."

Kasai watched him carefully, sensing that although he was full of himself, seemed more of an academic than a fighter. "I suspect you may be correct." She replied, keeping her cool.

"That spell you casted- I recognized some of it. It was a combination of 72 different magics, most of which seemed to be from your guild members. Some of it was new to me, though."

"Have you heard of the Eastern Buddhist Temple?" She asked, and he nodded.

"The one that was slaughtered? Yes, a pity. I was disappointed to learn that they had such a magnificent library that was burned to the ground."

"I grew up at the temple."

"Really? I was under the impression that only males were able to train there."

"I wasn't allowed in the classrooms, but I did have access to their library and students."

"That explains your advanced magical skill. I grew up in a similar situation, raised near a wonderful library in the East. They had a wonderful collection." He explained, and she smiled.

"That wouldn't be the Poseidon Library, would it?"

"Yes, actually."

"I've heard good things about that library." She spoke, surprise in her voice. "They focus more on newer magic, though, don't they?"

"Yes, their collection sadly lacking in ancient magic, but makes up for it in newer magic. Someone of your caliber would appreciate it."

"What the hell are you doing here?"

The trio looked up to find their guild members there, Gray being the one that spoke up.

"Trying to get info on us?"

"Hardly. Just having a polite conversation with this young woman. Unlike you brutes, she has good taste in literature." The wizard spoke, and with a nod of his head to Kasai, walked away from the table and group.

"Learn anything about him?" Gray asked her, and she shrugged.

"He reads a lot." She said with a shrug.

"Whatever, I need to show you something." Gajeel spoke up, aggravated by the time they wasted walking there.

"What now?" Kasai groaned, scowling at him.

"It's something to do with dragonslayers and what he found below the coliseum." Wendy spoke, and the red head sighed. Quickly, she closed the various books in front of her and stacked them. "What were you guys doing here, anyway?"

"Oh, just," Carla spoke, but Kasai answered for her.

"I wanted to check out the library's collection on protection magic, and given your recent attack, I offered to teach her some spells."

"That's great! I wish you had asked me to join you, Carla!" Wendy said excitedly.

"Maybe after Gajeel shows us whatever he wants to show us." Kasai suggested, speaking for Carla since she seemed so flustered. She'd been nervous since the visions, and even though studying had helped calm her nerves, she was still on edge. The appearance of the Sabertooth Guild member didn't help the matter. "The library is open until 2 AM. By the way, nice fighting today, Gajeel." She teased, causing the tall man to glare at her.

"Go fuck yourself." He told her, and started walking towards the entrance.

"Ssshhhh," Someone hushed. "This is a library." They whispered.

"You can go fuck yourself, too."

"Language!" Carla chastised, but it hardly affected the annoyed dragonslayer.

"Bite me."

1.

They were in the cavern of dead dragons when the white knight appeared, and Kasai exchanged a glance with the white cat to confirm the connection.

He was the man from her vision, and could easily be part of whatever hell was about to happen. As the man spoke, Natsu interrupting him several times in demand of a direct answer, Kasai couldn't help the theories from popping into her head.

Zeref had caused the dragonslayer to turn into a dragon.

Her mind was racing, and hadn't even noticing her equally racing heart. Natsu and Gajeel noticed it, though, and both of them looked at her. Kasai was focused on the man in white armor, trying to absorb his words. "What's wrong?" Natsu asked her.

"How many people know about this?" She asked the man, her voice slightly panicked.

"Very few. It's not common knowledge." He said, and she took a deep breath to try and calm down.

"What is it?" Natsu asked her, trying to read her.

 _The blood dragon was captured to fuel an artificial dragon, and was also 'brainwashed' into training me. Except, the brainwashing didn't work. Eragon trained me anyway in order to get revenge on the Blood Guild for capturing him._

 _Taiyo's last words were that Zeref and Kiken would join forces… if Kiken knows the spell that Zeref used to turn Acnologia into a dragon, he could easily be planning to use it on me. Acnologia bathed in the blood of other dragons, so it's not a huge stretch that blood dragonslayer would work just as well._

"Long story short, it's possible that Kiken intends to turn me into a dragon using that spell." She said, and the group stared at her. "I'm not going to let it happen, but it's possible that it's his current end game."

"I'm going to kill that ass hole when I find him!" Natsu yelled, getting 'fired up'.

"There is something else I must show you, though." The white knight told them, and they all turned back to him.

After he showed them the time machine, and his plan to use it, Kasai felt sick to her stomach. Not only were they talking about messing with the timeline, which was dangerous in of itself, but if they succeeded, she wouldn't exist anymore. Zeref was her father, so if they killed him, she wouldn't have been born.

"This is a terrible plan." Kasai spoke, causing Arcadios to glare at her. "You're talking about messing with the time line. There's no telling what could happen."

"We could make the future a better place!" Yukino told her.

"You could also make it worse. If he hadn't interfered with the dragon war, whose to say that the other side wouldn't have won?"

"I couldn't agree more." A new voice spoke, causing everyone to turn towards the new voice. They were suddenly surrounded by royal guards, all of whom didn't look friendly.

"What are you doing?!" Arcadios asked, surprised and outraged.

"Telling outsiders classified secrets? Planning to mess with the timeline?"

"They're hardly outsiders, since they're part of the plan!" He replied.

"I can't allow you to go through with such a dangerous plan, Arcadios." The older man stated.

As the guards threatened to get closer, Natsu tried to use their fire magic to take them out, but was instead completely drained of his magical power. "Natsu!" Kasai screamed, grabbing his arm as he fell to slow his fall. "What the hell did you do?" She asked, turning her attention to the guards.

"Didn't he tell you? This gate drains magical power. Closer you cast your spells to it, the more it drains." He explained, and she glared.

"Since you can't use magic, you wizards are defenseless." Their leader said, but he was proven wrong as she started attacking the men, using her martial arts.

2.

Kasai sat near the other guild members, her arms cross and visibly annoyed. Even though she could have taken down the entire platoon of soldiers, they had grabbed Lucy and threaten to hurt her, forcing Kasai to step down. Natsu was near her, equally frustrated, but was standing with his hands balled up into fists.

"This is very troubling." Makarov muttered.

"So in order to get Lucy back, we have to win the tournament?" Gray spoke.

"There's no guarantee that they'll return her even if we do what they say." Gajeel spoke, and the group nodded.

"We can't just leave her there!" Natsu yelled. "We have to go after her!"

"We're not leaving her behind, Natsu. One way or another, we will get her back." Kasai said behind him, resting a hand on his shoulder. "You're not the only one upset by this."

"We'll retrieve her tomorrow during the tournament." Makarov spoke.

"The castle would be the least guarded at that time." Erza spoke.

"It would look suspicious of we didn't compete tomorrow, though." Mirajane spoke up.

"Then we'll have two teams. One will compete, while the other rescues Lucy." Makarov spoke, and the group nodded.

"Since Natsu had his magic sucked out, it won't be surprising if he doesn't compete. They'll just think he's too sick to compete." Kasai spoke up. "I'll take his place."

"No, you won't." Natsu said quickly.

"Natsu," She spoke, locking eyes with him. "I'm going to trust you to get Lucy back. You've got to trust me to fight in your place." Her voice was level, and even though he wanted to argue with her, he recognized the tone in her voice. It didn't matter what he said or did, she was going to do it with or without his approval.

He nodded.

"I'll go with him." Mirajane spoke.

"So will I!" Wendy said, and Carla nodded by her side.

"I will, too." Panther Lily spoke up.

"So the team competing will be Kasai, Gajeel, Gray, Laxus, and I." Erza spoke, and they nodded.

"Those jerks are going to pay for taking Lucy." Natsu said.

"Yeah, they are." Kasai agreed, unable to keep her blood magic from ominously flying around her, occasionally sparking with her fire magic.

"Save your energy for the fight tomorrow." Erza told her, noticing the magic on both her and Natsu. They were both equally angered, but she hadn't seen Kasai this upset since Tanashimi grabbed a prostitute from the street and claimed it was her mother. "And try not to kill anyone this time."

"I only kill mass murderers." She scoffed, but realizing that her blood magic had been activated, tried to take deep calming breaths. "Carla, we'll continue our research tomorrow and get the protection spells prepared by the 5th day."

"I'll help." Wendy offered.

"Levy, would you be willing to help, too?" She asked, turning to the quiet woman to the side. At the sound of her name she looked up, having been listening to the conversation.

"Of course."

3.

"Natsu, try to calm down. Maybe we should get some fish?" Happy suggested, watching his best friend fight with Kasai in the park. His hands were blazing with fire, fueled by anger and wanting so badly to attack the people that had taken Lucy.

Kasai used her blood magic to harden her skin when he attacked, so that he could have something to punch without causing actual damage. Since she had been training with Gajeel she'd learned to make her blood as hard as iron.

Ever since she'd learned that spell, to make her skin harder, he'd enjoyed fighting with her more. He could actually land his attacks on her, instead of hitting air.

He punched her in the face, causing her to fall back and hit the ground, bouncing against it and flipping back onto her feet. She threw in her own hits, landing most of them, and the two went back and forth with their attacks for several hours.

Happy eventually left, not wanting to watch them fight anymore. Most of the time they were fun to watch, using exciting fire magic and occasional random magic from Kasai, but today they weren't fighting for fun. They were fighting in anger. They were frustrated, pissed off, and had no where else to direct that energy.

When they got tired, they eventually stopped using their magic. Bare knuckles, flesh, and blood.

Feeling tired, raw, and sorrowful- Kasai suddenly reached out and grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him into a rough kiss and smashing their lips together.

His hand reached up to the back of her head and grabbed her neck roughly, yanking it back. His fangs dug into her neck, biting down hard and drawing blood.

The park was dark, deserted, and only the stars above gave them any light.

Their sweat, flesh, and limbs mixed together as they locked lips again. They found a very shaded part of the park, several trees crowded together to create shelter from prying eyes.

They could smell the scent of previous lovers who used the spot, and even though they agreed to not have sex in public areas, couldn't wait any longer. Starvation was settling in and they wouldn't settle for just a taste.

She used her tree magic to further curtain off their activities from the world, making a small hut for their intentions. Afterwards it would be easy to get rid of.

"I can't wait any longer." He breathed against her ear as she grinded against him, causing him to groan loudly.

4.

Kasai found herself standing with the others, waiting to attack. Mavis had given them all specific instructions on what to do, and they weren't supposed to move until a specific time.

The fire dragonslayer, however, only had vague instruction. Since Mavis knew so little about her abilities, she was mostly back-up. Once the others started moving, she was going to sit and wait, using her long range mud magic to attack and provide assistance. If any of them was in danger of losing and requested back up, Kasai would be ready to intervene.

When they announced that the battle had started, Kasai began using her mud magic to take down the weaker wizards. Whatever wizards she couldn't take down with the spell, the rest would run and attack.

Fairy Tail began racking up the points, getting 6 easily, and once she had determined who she couldn't take down with the simple spell, told the others where they were. Which, in accordance to Mavis's plan, worked out perfectly.

While also providing back up, the red head could feel the battle beneath the city taking place. She recognized the magic being Natsu's, and even though she wanted to help, knew she couldn't do anything about it.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

 _Dragons Galore_

Fairy Tale stood together as the first dragon approached them, its body completely made of fire and its intend to kill evident.

"Hey Erza," Kasai spoke, getting the woman's attention but not bothering to actually look at her. "I forgive you now for taking all those monsters for yourself."

"Don't take these dragons so lightly, Kasai." Makarov warned her, nervous about how excited the young woman looked. She reminded him eerily of Natsu when he was about to challenge someone significantly stronger than him.

"I'm a fire dragonslayer, remember?" She asked, smirking as she glanced at him.

The dragon shot out a pillar of flame at them, which Fried tried to block with his magic, but failed. While the others were thrown back, Kasai held her ground and sucked in the tasty flames. _Not only will this power my fire dragonslayer magic, but my blood magic, too._

"Fire dragon roar!" She yelled, mixing in an assortment of other dragonslayer magic into her attack. Not having tapped into her reservoir of magic yet, she wasn't surprised when it did little damage. "Guess I have to pull out the big guns." She muttered, and started running towards the monster before her.

"You use fire, huh?" The dragon asked, chuckling.

"I use blood, too," She said, and jumped up to make an attack, but was swiped to the side by his massive hand.

"Kasai!" Many of her guild members yell, watching of their strongest wizards be knocked down so easily.

"You're fast." Kasai commented, easily standing up and revealing her iron scales. After becoming a blood dragonslayer, she had started adding more iron in her diet to allow her body to mimic the effects of Gajeel's iron attacks. Essentially she had 3 layers of dragonslayer skin, all of which were nearly impenetrable.

The rest of the guild were trying to throw attacks at it, but were of no use. Since Kasai was forgotten by the dragon, at least temporarily, she took the opportunity to watch how the attacks affected it.

Most magic had no effect on it.

Dragonslayer magic did the most damage.

"Laxus, Gajeel, get off your ass and go help the other guilds with their dragons! Only dragonslayer magic has any affect on them!" Kasai yelled, jumping in front of the group and addressing them. Just as she did so, another dragon flew overhead and giant eggs began falling from it. "Eggs…?"

"Kasai, can you handle this one on your own?" Laxus asked, and she nodded.

Without another moment of hesitation, she ran back to the dragon at full force. He roared at her again, sending his flames at her, but she easily ate it up. While she ran around it, jumping from limb to limb and trying to confuse it, she sent her blood magic around it to absorb more of its magical energy. When she made it to its back, she attacked it, causing it to cry out in pain. "You pathetic human," The dragon spoke, and its tail sent her flying into the air.

"Tasty," Another dragon spoke, this one black with a red belly, as it hurled towards her with an open mouth.

"Nope!" She said, and pushed against its teeth to avoid getting eaten. "Sky dragon: Roar!" She yelled, and the angle caused her to fly higher into the air while causing it to fall midair into the ground. A blast of fire hit her again, sending her even higher into the clouds. "How about some lightning and water, eh?" She asked, manipulating the moisture in the air to coat the black dragon that was heading towards her, and then used lightning magic on it. The water amplified its affects and caused it to stagger, but it was still coming at her.

"You must be Kasai," A green dragon spoke, appearing behind her and narrowly missing her. Her molasses spell had activated and prevented his teeth from chomping down on her, barely allowing her time to jump out of his jaws. At this time all of these dragons were flying high above the city, 4 of them gunning for her. Two of them were on the ground causing chaos, the dragonslayers having their hands full with just the two of them.

"You've heard of me?" She asked, and while dodging another attack managed to land on the fire dragon's back.

"You kill Acnologia in the future and take his place as king of the dragons," The Jade dragon spoke, causing her gaze to harden. "Or should I say, Queen?"

"Do I turn into a dragon?" She asked.

"Only after slaughtering half of Acnologia's army." He replied, and the black dragon tried to hit her with its wing.

"Watch where you're hitting!" The fire dragon yelled, narrowly avoiding damage as Kasai jumped away. The rock dragon hit her mid jump, causing her to fall towards the earth at high speeds. When she crashed, she managed to turn the ground to mud in time to further soften her blow. Instead of rocky debris flying everywhere, it was just mud that would cause less damage.

Noticing her clothes were almost gone, not being able to handle so many elements, she covered herself in mud to keep some semblance of decency.

She only had time to cast one other spell as the rock dragon plummeted towards her, head first.

Using her mud magic she managed to get out of the way just enough to avoid getting hit, and used the shock wave to create a wave of mud to get her a further distance. The black dragon hit her with its wing mid flight, causing her to fall again.

As the decoy fell, she jumped up and used her blood magic to punch it in the face, using her reservoir of magic to attack it and send it flying to the ground in pain.

"What are you doing?!" The fire dragon yelled, suddenly shaking its head and panicking, causing the other dragons to get some distance.

"Are you okay, Kasai?" Happy asked near her, causing her to smile at the familiar face.

"Yeah, where is Natsu?" She asked.

"He's on the fire dragon eating its fire!"

"Good, that takes care of one of them. Stay as far away from me as you can, Happy. They're all targeting me!" She said, and pulled him close to her to shield him from a blast of the fire magic that hit them. As soon as it had cooled enough she threw him as hard as she could, and then tried to block against the blast of energy headed her way.

"Don't you guys see this as a little unfair?" Kasai asked as she found herself hurtling into the air again, jumping from dragon to dragon and attempting to use their attacks against one another; however, they were smart, and weren't falling for her tricks. They were fast and could dodge one another, but luckily in the process, made them slower to attack in fear of hurting each other. "I mean, 3 dragons against one measly human is a little overkill, don't you think?"

"The King of Dragons was once human. Even though we think humans are weak and tasty, we know not to underestimate them." The Jade dragon spoke, watching as she tried to use to blood magic to slice through the rock dragon with no prevail.

She was tempted to be 'eaten' just so that she could attack them from the inside, but given the toughness of their bodies, she doubted it would work. Just like Gajeel, their entire bodies, not just their skin, were of their element and would be tough to take apart. The Jade dragon seemed to be the weakest physically, but he also had an array of magic spells up his sleeve.

She noticed Natsu fighting in the distance with the fire dragon, and hoped that he would figure out a way to end the battle soon.

A one-on-one battle with a dragon, she might have won.

Three, though, and she had no chance.

She used her mud magic to slide across the backs of the dragons and constantly keep moving, but they were smart, and caught onto her tactics quickly.

In the distance she could hear her comrades falling, crying out in pain, and getting attacked.

The only thing she could do was to keep these dragons busy as long as she could; because, as soon as they killed her, they would go after the others.

"Shit!" She yelled, hurtling in the air towards her demise as the Jade Dragon opened its mouth wide and gobbled her up.

2.

Suddenly, she found herself back in the outside world, just before she had been eaten by the dragon. Not having enough time to figure out what happened, she took preemptive measure to avoid the direction of her momentum and instead land on the wing of the Jade Dragon instead of its mouth. "Blood magic blade!" She yelled, and as she skid across the dragon's scales, sliced her blade into him.

He cried out in pain and although she couldn't cut off the entire limb, it was enough to make him unstable and hurtle towards the ground. In his chaotic flapping to regain altitude she was thrown into the air again, coming face to face with the other two dragons.

Even though she was using their magic against them, and causing some damage, they kept coming after her.

3.

"She's managing to hold her own against 3 dragons." Makarov said in astonishment, watching the battle take place above the city. The fire woman was bouncing around the dragons as if she were in a water park, using their massive bodies to her advantage and trying to use their own magic against them. "I don't even know how to help."

"When she loses, those dragons are going to be coming after us." Mavis reminded him. "You and the others need to take care of the little ones while the bigger ones are distracted."

4.

Kasai knew the end was near.

They knew it, too.

She was getting sloppy, disoriented, and getting hit more often.

The rock dragon back handed her, causing her to fly into the ground, her iron scales cracked and doing little to help her. She tried to repair the blood ones, but she knew that there wasn't enough time before the black dragon made its final blow.

She pushed against a nearby rock at the last minute and slid mostly out of the way, narrowly missing the wing but still getting the shockwave. She was sent flying back into two walls, causing them to crumble.

Letting the iron scales fall off of the body, now that they were so broken, she stood again and let her fire magic take over her body. The new mud on her skin was cooking, almost becoming a new ceramic armor for her. "I'm a Fairy Tail wizard, and I'm going to do everything in my power to protect my friends!" She yelled, running towards the dragon that had just tried to hit her and punching its wing.

But then the other dragon swooped down, hitting her with enough force to send her flying again and be hit by the rock dragon's roar.

She hit the ground, unconscious; just as the dragons began to glow.

A few minutes later her eyes fluttered open, eyes searching for the impending death that awaited her. Her blood magic was working quickly to repair her broken body, but there was no chance that she could fight now.

But the dragons were gone; even the little dragons.

A sigh against her lips. "Whatever you did, Natsu… you have impeccable timing." She whispered, and heard the patters of feet in the distance.

"Hey, are you alive?" A male voice asked nearby, approaching her unmoving body.

"Barely." She croaked, coughing into the air. A large coat landed on her, covering most of her body.

"I thought you were a gonner." He said, and sat down next to her. The blond dragonslayer, Laxus, had dirt on his face and his clothes were torn from the fight. His demeanor was tired and nonchalant, though, resting on a nearby piece of rubble. "That mud doesn't leave much to the imagination, either."

"What happened to the dragons?"

"They all started glowing and disappeared. It happened when Natsu destroyed the gate." He explained, and she closed her eyes.

"Any longer and I would have been toast." She admitted, and opened her eyes again to look up at the cloudy sky, filled with smoke from the earlier battles and fires.

"I noticed that you used some lightning magic during the fight." He commented, and she chuckled, cringing at the pain it brought on.

"I used combinations of dragonslayer magic from all the dragonslayers I've fought with. I didn't use your magic too much, though. Mostly iron, fire, and blood."

"Why did they all go after you?" He asked, watching how his jacket moved creepily on her. It looked as if there were bugs moving beneath the cloth, but he knew it was her blood magic working.

"They think I'm going to kill Acnologia." She said, causing his eyes to widen. "I couldn't even beat those dragons, though. So I find it hard to believe."

"You've really been holding back the past year, haven't you?" He asked, staring at her with a new sense of admiration. Kasai turned her head to look at Laxus, noticing the stern look on his face and cold demeanor. "Are you even human?"

"I'm as human as any dragonslayer can be." She answered simply, and sighed, cringing as her magic began repairing her bones. "It's going to be a little while until I can move on my own. My armor broke down towards the end."

"Once I regain my strength, I'll carry you to the others. Even with 3 dragonslayers against one dragon, we couldn't take him down."

"Makes you glad that we didn't have to fight 10,000, though." She said, and he laughed.

"I guess you're right."

5.

Natsu and Kasai found themselves lounging in the corner of the bar, away from the others and resting from their previous night of fighting. It was one of two small couches in the bar, and Kasai was leaning back against his chest with his arms around her waist. The rest of the guild was ignoring them for the most part, too caught up in drinking and celebrating their recent victory.

"He said you would become Queen of the Dragons, huh?" Natsu asked, gently reaching one of his hands up to her hair and playing with it. "I guess that would make me the King of Dragons, eh?" He asked with a cheeky smile.

"I guess so."

"That gives me a good idea…" He muttered, and she chuckled, knowing that he was up to something but too tired to care. She turned slightly and snuggled into him, resting her head against his shoulder so that they were laying at a diagonal angle. Her eyes closed, sighing in content. "You're not sleepy, are you?"

"Yeah. And you're going to be my pillow." She said, relishing his warmth and enjoying how comfy he was. Despite how muscular, he was the perfect shape for her, allowing her to mold herself against him.

"And what if I don't want to be your pillow?"

"You do."

"I do?"

"Yes. Now shut up and scheme quietly while I sleep." She said, and the pink-haired man fell silent as he began thinking about his plan for the evening banquet. Little did she know that he was planning to show up as the King, and insult countless people that night.

6.

The next day, after all the partying and drinking, Natsu's team rode a carriage back home. On the way there, they stopped at a grassy field and to stretch their legs.

"You died?" Kasai asked Gray, blinking at the ice man as he retold his experience during the battle. He had been explaining how the time change had allowed him to avoid death, and how he had sensed a 'warm feeling' from it. "I did too, actually. The only warm thing I felt was getting swallowed by a dragon, though." She said, scowling at the memory.

"You died?"

"Yeah. I got distracted and flew right into the Jade Dragons mouth. Pretty embarrassing, now that I think about it…." She muttered, not completely distracted and looking off into the distance. "What an insane week it's been."

"You can say that again." Gray said, and they both laughed it off, chatting a bit more before going back to the carriage.

1.

"My arms are starting to hurt from carrying so much stuff." Levy complained as they walked, trying to shift her shoulders so that they weren't so stiff.

"Think of it as training." Kasai joked. "I can carry your bags, if you want. This is nothing for me."

"No, I'll be fine. You're already carrying a lot of my stuff." She replied, commenting on the 6 bags she was holding and two boxes balanced precariously on her head. "Thanks for going shopping with me. Sorry I got carried away…"

"Don't worry about it. So long as you let me borrow these books on occasion. That was an awesome used book sale we stumbled on."

"Yeah, but it's too bad we only found it after our planned shopping. It seems like there were a lot of great sales going on today…"

"It's probably from the aftermath of the Grand Magic Games. Not to mention the added discount from being members of Fairy Tale." Kasai told her, smiling at the memory.

"Aren't you bothered by all the looks you've been getting, though?" Levy asked, and Kasai looked at her confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, people have been scared of you." She said, and the red head 'hmm'd, thinking back through her day.

"I hadn't really noticed." She said with a shrug. "I guess I'm so used to everyone being afraid of Natsu, I didn't notice."

"It doesn't bother you at all?"

"I killed someone, Levy. I didn't expect to get off scratch free. If getting a few weird looks is the price for killing a mass murderer, then that's okay with me." She said light-heartedly, smiling at the end. They turned and walked down a mostly empty alleyway, and when they looked down, noticed a familiar little feline walking around.

"Eh? What is that?" Levy whispered to Kasai.

"You're part of the Sabertooth Guild, aren't you?" Kasai asked, causing the little frog/cat creature to stop, turn around, and look up at them. "What was your name?"

"Frosche." He said cutely, causing both of the girls to smile and blush slightly.

"He's so cute!" Levy said, and set down her bags to crouch down and get a better look at him. "Where are your friends?"

"I'm shopping alone…" He answered, at first smiling, but then he burst into tears. "Actually, I'm lost."

"It's okay, little guy. We can help you get to wherever you want to go." Levy told him as she patted him on the head. A sweatdrop appeared on her head as she heard Kasai's belly rumble loudly.

"If where ever he is going is on the way home or to a restaurant, count me in." She said, and suddenly sensed the presence of the little frog's friends nearby.

"No… I'm trying to get home. But I'm going to make it home by myself." The little frog said, wiping away his tears.

"Are you sure? It wouldn't be any problem for us to help you."

Kasai's stomach rumbled again.

"No, I'll be okay." The little frog said, and then started walking away. Once he was out of earshot, Levy shot Kasai a glare.

"Did you have to be so rude? Something could happen to him on his way home!"

"I can't stop being hungry. Besides, the cat's friends are keeping an eye on them… right?" She said, and from behind a corner, the group of wizards jumped and tried to hide again. "Frosche will be fine… my stomach, on the other hand, needs some food."

"Didn't you just eat? You're worse than Natsu." She scolded, her foul mood annoying the red head.

"I think Gajeel is a bad influence on you." Kasai said, frowning at her.

"Because you're such a great influence, too." She teased, sticking her tongue out at her as she grabbed the shopping bags again. The wizard started walking again, her cute blue hair bouncing with each step, and after a second of deliberation her companion followed.

"How are you and Gajeel, by the way?" Kasai asked after a moment of walking.

"We're good… I guess." Levy answered, not bothering to look at her friend as she answered.

"What's going on between you two?"

"He's just an idiot as usual. I don't know why I put up with him. He makes me wish I was gay."

Kasai couldn't help but laugh, nearly causing the boxes on her head to fall.

2.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Kasai asked, weirded out by the stare Gajeel was giving her. They were sitting on a grassy field eating lunch with Lily, having just finished a job, and were about half a day's journey from their Guild Hall.

"Shut up." He replied, and went back to his food, a blush on his face. Lily and Kasai exchanged a confused look, not knowing what that was about.

"You're being weird."

"You're being weird!" He accused back, suddenly angry.

"Levy mentioned there's trouble in paradise. What's up, dude?" She asked, not phased by his outburst.

"I don't want to talk about it." He huffed, crossed his arms and looking away from them.

"Gajeel is bad at cuddling." Lily told her, remembering his earlier conversation with the man.

"Hey, that was a private conversation, you bastard!"

"I don't think you're bad at cuddling." Kasai commented, remembering back they'd first started doing missions together.

"Well tell that to Levy… actually, don't." The dragonslayer said, flustered. "It's my magic. Since my body is hard as iron, she said I'm like a statue. Not exactly comfortable."

"Weird." Kasai commented. "Maybe if you get more fat, you'll be squishy and comfy."

"It doesn't matter how much body fat I have." He said, glaring at her. "Did you catch Natsu's stupidity?"

"You're just jealous that I'm so cuddly." She said, and smiled triumphantly when Lily walked over and sat on her lap.

"You're almost as cuddly as Coco." Lily told her, watching as Gajeel became even more annoyed at them.

"What's your secret to being good at cuddling? And don't tell me it's because you're fat, because I know you're not. You're body is almost as tough as mine." He asked her, referring to the iron supplements she'd started taking to mimic his abilities. With her blood magic and near iron magic abilities, her body was just short of being iron like his.

Kasai shrugged. "Could be because I have boobs. I read an article once that said people like hugging women with larger breasts, because it reminds them of their mom as a child."

"But Lily isn't anywhere near your chest, and he's boasting about how comfy you are."

"What do you like about cuddling, Lily?" She asked looking down at him, simultaneously reaching her hand up and petting his soft fur.

"That." The cat replied, enjoying the woman's touch. "Little things like that make you comfy."

"Caressing? So you're saying that if I caress Levy while we cuddle, she'll like me more?" Gajeel asked.

"Another factor could be my fire magic. My body may be hard as a rock, but I'm also a natural heater."

"Maybe if I eat some fire…" He mumbled, quietly pondering. "Throw me some of your fire so that I can eat it!"

"Eating someone else's element only works for a short amount of time, remember?"

"Well, shit, what am I supposed to do?"

"Maybe wear bubblewrap to sleep?" Kasai suggested.

"Or maybe a heating blanket!" Lily suggested.

"Spiderwebs are comfy, right?"

"Are you trying to sabotage me?!" Gajeel asked her, ready to start fighting.

"You're jealous of how cuddly I am." Kasai teased, giggling and laughing at the situation. That is, until she found herself flat on her back after Gajeel punched her in the face with his iron magic. "That's why no one wants to cuddle with you, ass hole!"

3.

"You're supposed to be using ice make magic." Gray scolded her, catching her about to use mud magic.

"Sorry," She apologized, but then stood up, stretching her arms over her head. "Break?"

"You're not really into ice make magic, are you?" He asked, making his ice creatures disappear and relaxing his posture. She did the same, letting her various ice forms disappear.

"It's not that. There's just… not enough challenge in sticking to one magic anymore." She admitted, rubbing the back of her head. "I do appreciate you teaching it to me, though. It's been extremely helpful in battles, no only know ice make magic but being able to apply the concepts to other magic, like mud."

"I'm glad I could help. It's been fun to get your insight on it." He said, and they both walked to the side of the field they had been training on. Both of them reached for their waterbottles, making sure to stay hydrated on the sunny day. "I've been meaning to ask you something…" He started to speak, taking a seat next to her on the blanket. Their belongings had weighted it down while they fought so that it wouldn't be blown away, and during their breaks it was an amble place to sit and rest.

"Yeah?"

"During the games… you mentioned speaking to Zeref." He said, eyeing her as he spoke and watching her gaze avert to the ground. "What's your connection to him?"

"I'm not working with him."

"I'm not saying you are. But he did seek you out, and there's something that you're not telling us."

"Mavis told me not to tell anyone. Guild Master's orders."

"You know what Zeref did to my village, to my friends and family." He said, causing the red head to feel bad. It was easy for her to forget that he had such a dark past, with how carefree and chill he was.

Kasai looked at her surroundings, using her heightened senses to locate any prying eyes or ears, observing the trees and empty field before them. "You won't look at me the same if I told you."

"I deserve to know." He stated, and she sighed.

"You already know that Zeref has been alive for the past 400 years, wandering in secret…. Well, on Tenrou Island, after I fought my mom, he approached me. He'd recognized her."

Gray's eyes hardened. "He knew your mom? Like, they were _friends_?"

"I honestly don't know the details of their relationship, other than I was the result." She said, and watched as his eyes widened in disbelief, his body scrambling backwards away from her. "I have no interest to follow in his footsteps. I'd like to think that I'm just naturally gifted at magic, but it's possible that my tenacity for it is a byproduct of being his offspring."

"Does anyone else know about this?" He asked, starting to regain some semblance of control, but still wary of her.

"No. You're the only one… and I'd like to keep it that way. Well, Mavis knows, but that's it."

"And you've been keeping that secret since Tenrou Island? You had no idea before that?" He asked, folding his legs in front of him and although still sitting on the blanket, keeping his distance from her.

"My mom said that my dad was a traveling sales man. I never really put too much thought into it, or really cared for that matter." She admitted, and took another sip of her water. "Although, now that Zeref knows of my existence… there's no telling what he's going to do to me. The easiest solution would be to kill me."

He gaped at her, surprised at her nonchalant attitude. "And you're okay with that?!"

"Tch, this is Zeref we're talking about. You've witnessed his magic first hand." She scoffed, setting her waterbottle down. "If he wants me dead, there's nothing I can do about it. I won't go down without a fight, mind you, but considering his ability to turn dragonslayers into dragons…."

"You're right, I have seen his magic. But I've also seen yours." He said, looking at her seriously. "I don't think you give yourself enough credit."

"He told me at the Magic Games that he 'can't ignore me anymore'. Half the town cowers in fear when I walk down the street, not to mention most of the guild members at Fairy Tail. Makarov also hits me over the head and calls me an 'idiot' whenever he sees me…" She mumbled the last past, remembering the previous times he had attacked her.

Suddenly, Gray smiled, chuckling at her sulking expression. "To be honest, it makes me feel a little better. I was feeling pretty shitty when you picked up on my magic so quickly, when it had taken me years to learn. Knowing your dad was an evil genius boosts my ego a bit."

She smiled, happy to have such an understanding friend. "Thanks, Gray."

4.

"Hey, why don't you want to take missions with me anymore?" Natsu asked one night, laying next to her on the hammock she had set up in the yard. They had been star gazing for quite some time, Happy resting on his stomach while she snuggled into his side.

He loved moments like this, and as of late, it felt like he hadn't been getting enough of them. Ever since the magic games, she'd been spending most of her time with their other friends, taking up jobs with Gajeel, Levy, or some other random wizard in her spare time. She felt warm against his side, and he couldn't help but caress her arm lovingly with his hand. The air smelled fresh that night from the previous rainy days.

"I like taking missions with smaller groups. It's nothing against you, I just get tired of all the yelling and destruction from your group."

"Lately I've had to take jobs with just Lucy and Happy." He pointed out.

"But Lucy uses celestial spirits, none of whom are very quiet."

"I didn't realize you hated my friends."

"I don't hate them." She said, suddenly sitting up and looking down at him, causing the hammock to sway from her shifting weight. "And I love how… spirited you guys are. I just can't emotionally handle that much chaos 24/7."

"Then why are you dating Natsu?" Happy asked, joining the conversation. "He's noisy and breaks stuff all the time."

"No I don't!" Natsu yelled, proving the cat's point.

"But he's not as riled up when he's just with me." Kasai countered.

"Yeah he is. He just… channels the obnoxious energy in different ways." Happy said, and started snickering.

"You little-"

"Hey, what if we went on a vacation?" Kasai suddenly asked, causing the two to pause.

"But doesn't that cost money?" Natsu asked, thinking back to his previous measly paychecks. Since most of his job earnings went towards building repairs and Lucy's rent, he could barely afford food most of the time, nonetheless a vacation. "Maybe we could write it off as a business expense…?"

"I can pay for it. One of the plus sides of not working with you is that I get my full paycheck." She said, causing him to laugh awkwardly. "I know someone that owns a house on the beach, and they rent it out most of the time. Maybe we can do that this weekend?"

"The beach? It sounds like there will be a lot of fish!" Happy said, now lost in his own world thinking about all the fish they would get him.

"Seems like the perfect opportunity for training, too!"

"And there's some good restaurants in the area."

"This is going to be awesome!" Natsu cheered, but then at the extra movement, caused the hammock to sway and knock them to the ground.

5.

"We're going to the beach for the weekend, so we probably won't be back until Tuesday." Kasai told Mirajane while sitting on the shoulders of Natsu, looking down at her with a cheesy grin on her face. They were both already in swim gear, even though the house they were renting was half day's travel away. Natsu was in his swim trunks while Kasai was in matching trunks and a white sweatshirt, zipped down slightly to reveal her black bikini top underneath.

"What?! You guys are leaving?! How am I going to pay rent?!" Lucy asked, panicked as she walked up to them. The Guild Hall was mostly empty that morning, and most days, namely because they'd gotten so many job requests after the Grand Magic Games.

"You can do a job with me, Erza, and Wendy!" Gray said, walking up to her and patting her on the back.

"And me, because they're going without me…" Happy said, moping from a nearby table and on the verge of crying.

"You're leaving Happy behind, too? I don't think I've even seen you two apart for more than a day." Lucy commented, trying to hide her disappointment at having her favorite wizards leave without her. "This is a bit out of the blue, isn't it?"

"Have you ever done a job without Natsu, Lucy?" Gray suddenly asked, causing the blond to blush.

"Of course I have! I did one with Kasai, and another one with Erza. Even though the second one wasn't technically a job…"

"Speaking of which, you still have the crystal I gave you, right?" Kasai asked, causing the blond to blink at her in confusion, and then recognition.

"Yeah!" She said, and held up her wrist to show the crystal, which was now a charm on her bracelet. "I hope you don't mind, I altered it a bit."

"If you get into any serious trouble, like life or death stuff, call me on it and Natsu and I will come running."

"What? No!" Natsu yelled, pissed off. "No contact with Fairy Tail, remember? Not even Lucy!"

"Wouldn't you feel guilty if someone got hurt while we were away?"

"But Lucy calls on her spirits all the time! She's the worst person to give that crystal to!"

"Don't worry, Kasai," Erza spoke up, approaching the group after overhearing their conversation. "Gray and I will make sure that nothing bad happens while you're away. I promise."

"See? Erza has everything under control!" Natsu said, looking up at his girlfriend and smiling at her. "Nothing to worry about!"

"You kids have fun. We'll see you when you get back!" Mirajane said, smiling and giggling at them.

"Woohoo!" Natsu yelled, and started running to the exit, almost causing Kasai to fall off.

"I can't believe they're leaving without me…" Happy continued sulking nearby.

"Don't worry, Happy, they'll only be gone for a few days." Wendy told him, trying to comfort the sad cat.

"Knowing them, they're probably going to spend the entire weekend training. You would have been bored out of your skull." Gray told him, feeling bad for the little guy.

6.

"So… do we have any plans for this weekend?" Natsu asked her on the way to the train station, both of them carrying large backpacks.

"Sex, training, food, more sex, sleep?" She asked, and he grinned.

"This is going to be awesome!" He cheered.


	29. Chapter 29

**Author's Note:** Thank you for the reviews, faves, and follows!

E.N.D the FireDragonslayer : Lol, this fanfic is pretty old (I'm posting it now, but wrote it like… I want to say three years ago?) and I'm glad you could get through it despite the problems! (I'm amazed and complimented that anyone can!) This story is what jumpstarted me into writing other, better works, such as a 12 book series I've been working on. (Walking Cliche is a bit more polished, if you're interested in reading a slightly more recent story. I'll also be posting Boku No Hero fics, soon, which will be the most recent of my writings)

Even though this fanfic isn't that great, writing this did help me deal with a lot of issues I was going through at the time. I was in a relationship with someone who had a serious mental issues (like paranoid scitzophrenia, was so disillusioned from reality that he could have killed me and been unaware), was dealing with family stuff (moving into my dad's, my mom having cancer), and a lot of other issues. Delving head first into these fanfics allowed me to explore different concepts/themes, vent some of my own frustrations, and just help me understand other people and why they work the way they do.

So, even though this isn't one of my better works, I hold it near and dear to my heart, because it helped me accomplish so many other things. I'm grateful that Fairy Tail exists and I was able to be so inspired by it, that so many great things came from it, and I'm glad that I get to share that journey with other people, even if I never see them and our only interaction is them reading my work.

I'm incredible honored that so many people have taken the time to read my stories. So, to the people reading this: thank you.

 **Chapter 29**

 _Death of a Dragonslayer_

"We're back!" Natsu announced as they entered the Guild Hall, both of them sporting new tans. However, none of their friends answered, and were instead gathered in a circle and staring at Lucy's golden keys.

"Eh? What's up?" Kasai asked, noticing the tenseness in the room. As she stepped forward, however, she bit down as pain spread through her, like she'd been struck by lightning. When she looked down, she realized she'd stepped into a trap. "The hell?"

She barely got her arms up in time to defend against a kick to her chest, sending her flying backwards into the wall. "Kasai!" Natsu yelled, eyeing the two new wizards before them and immediately lighting up his hands. One of them was crouching on a table, while the one next to him was standing, both of them wearing tailored black suits and a fedora.

"What the hell?!" Gray yelled, everyone in the room now focusing on the new attackers.

"You come into our guild and attack one of our own without provocation? Do you have a death wish?" Erza asked, only to receive a smug smile from both of the wizards.

"Like we care what you think," They said in unison, and stuck their tongues out at them.

Natsu ran forward to land a hit on them, but was struck back and flew across the room.

"Lucy, why are Star and Comet attacking me? And wearing suits, for that matter?" Kasai asked as she stood, stepping forward and readying her fire magic.

"The zodiac spirits are suddenly acting weird, and revoked all of their contracts with me!" Lucy explained quickly, watching in horror as Star and Comet eyed Kasai like prey. "They also seem to have memory loss!"

"Is the Spirit King okay?" She asked, keeping her eyes on her opponents.

"No, he's disappeared."

"We have a new King, now." The twins spoke, and suddenly disappeared. They reappeared on either side of Kasai, who barely dodged their attacks and started hand-to-hand combat with them. Every time one of the other guild members tried to help, the twins easily dodged and countered the attack.

"These are the strongest fighters I know, don't take them lightly." Kasai warned the others as Erza was kicked into Natsu.

"You should take your own advice," They spoke together, one of them reaching forward and grabbing her throat, the other behind her and casting a spell.

One of her hands reached in front of her, and other behind, her blood magic shooting out and stabbing them through the head.

They both disappeared, and Kasai fell to the ground, coughing and trying to catch her breath.

"Where'd they go!? I wasn't finished fighting them!" Natsu yelled, fired up.

"Don't worry, we'll be seeing them again." Kasai said, standing up and glaring at Lucy.

"W-w-w-what are you staring at me for?!" Lucy asked, freaked out by the evil glare she was getting.

"We leave for a few days and the celestial world goes haywire?" The red head asked, and then sighed, shoving her hands in her pockets and instead deciding to assess the damage. Although the battle had been short, their sheer strength was enough to cause significant damage, but luckily nothing too substantial. A few tables, chairs, holes in the walls….

"What did he mean by 'we have a new king now'?" Gray asked, and she scowled.

"Their bodies are dead, and the only reason why Kiken couldn't control their spirits before was because the Spirit King intervened and saved them. Now that the Spirit King is gone, they're being controlled by the Blood Guild."

"But why did they attack you? I understand the celestial spirits attacking Lucy, but they had nothing to gain by fighting you." Erza asked, putting away her fighting gear. "You weren't contracted to them, were you?"

"I don't know if they had an actual reason for being here or not. Kiken likes to send me his new meat puppets on occasion to toy with me. If we get the Spirit King back, he'll be able to free them again."

"He's done this before?" Makarov suddenly asked, trying to understand and absorb as much information as possible. "By puppets, do you mean people?"

"It doesn't matter. Let's focus on fixing the Spirit World for now, and if that doesn't work, I'll deal with the Blood Guild. Given their unique abilities, I might be able to break them free on my own with enough research."

"Do you know much about the celestial world, Kasai? Specifically the 'Liberum'?" Levy asked.

"It sounds familiar, but no. Unfortunately I'm not too familiar with the celestial world, other than what I've learned from the twins and Lucy." Kasai told them, and looked over at Natsu when she felt his hand on her head.

"Don't worry too much, we'll fix this." He told her, his usual carefree grin on his face.

"Damn straight we are." She replied, his grin contagious as she started smiling too. "Now, fill us in on everything that's been going on." Kasai said, turning her attention back to Lucy and the other celestial wizard, Natsu standing by her side.

1.

"Stop moping and start reading." Gajeel lectured the woman, throwing another book at her.

"Natsu went to the spirit world without me. How am I supposed to be okay with that?"

"Well the sooner you find whatever we're looking for, the sooner we can figure this crap out!" He yelled, yelping in surprise when Kasai used her blood magic to push him over the railing and send him hurtling down 5 flights of stairs.

He landed with a loud crash, causing the building to shake slightly from the impact.

"Try not to worry so much, I'm sure he's fine. You know how tough he is." Lily told her, hoping that she wouldn't take out her frustrations on him next. "How was your vacation?"

"The vacation was great. We had a blast." She said, grin encompassing her face, but then in a flash she was scowling again. "Coming back to find out my best friends were slaves to my mortal enemy and having my boyfriend jump into another dimension where said mortal enemy could be lying in wait to kill him, not so great."

"I'm going to kill you!" Gajeel yelled from the bottom of the library, already running up the flights of stairs towards her.

"If anything were to happen to Gray, I don't know what I'd do!" Juvia said, crying and wiggling her butt as she started fantasizing about him.

"Since you can't do anything about Natsu right now, why don't you focus on trying to find info on this glob thing?" Panther Lily asked, trying to side track her from her worrying over Natsu.

"There's nothing here." Kasai said, using the book that Gajeel had thrown at her earlier to throw back at him, causing him to fall once again over the side railing, but this time breaking it and causing him to fall again. "This library is a dead end. Hopefully the others are having better luck than we are."

"Are you sure that there's nothing here, and you're just not-"

"I've been translating ancient texts for 15 years, I know when something is a dead end." She said, and then felt an ominous presence behind her.

"Gajeel, we're supposed to be working together on this," Juvia told him, snapping out of her fantasy and standing in between the two dragonslayers.

"Yeah Gajeel, get your shit together." Kasai said, falling onto her back and looking up at the pissed off dragonslayer from the ground, her childish position only pissing him off more.

"Comments like that aren't helping…" Lily muttered.

"I'm going to have your head on a platter if you don't shut the hell up."

' _Guys, this is Warren! The Zodiac spirits have the keys, and Natsu's team is headed to where the ceremony is supposed to take place!'_ The wizard spoke in their heads, causing all four of them to stop their bickering.

"So Natsu is back?" Kasai asked.

' _Yeah, he's fine. Just as obnoxious as ever.'_

"Good…" She said, relieved that he was okay. "Tell him that I'm going to kick his ass when I see him!" She yelled suddenly, sitting upright and causing everyone in the telepathic link to flinch at the loud sound.

2.

"Ow! What was that for!?" Natsu yelled after getting hit on the head by Kasai, who had shown up with the others at the ceremonial place. The Zodiacs had all disappeared into strange doors, and they were supposed to be following them, but Kasai wanted to hit him before he ran off again.

"What the hell were you thinking, running into the celestial world like that!?"

"I wanted to fight Loke!"

"Well you could have wait-" Her sentence was interrupted as she was punched in the side by a fast moving object, causing her to fly into Loke's doorway.

"Hypocrite!" Natsu yelled after grabbing the celestial key and running after her.

The others watched as the twins, Comet and Star, ran into the doorway after them. "Do you think they'll be okay? Should we go after them?" Wendy asked.

"They'll be fine. Kasai can handle herself." Gajeel said, and grabbed one of the keys.

The red head was hit again, flying into a stone building and causing a corner of it to crumble. Quickly she flipped back onto her feet in time to punch comet before he could land another blow, twisting so that she could land a solid kick on the other wizard.

"Oi! There's a bunch of rocks here!" Natsu commented.

"Natsu, those are called 'ruins'." Happy told him, and they both suddenly noticed the twin wizards on the ground nearby.

"Eh? What are you guys doing here?" Natsu asked, scratching his head. "I thought Loke was going to be here?"

"Once I take care of these two, Natsu, I'll help you with Loke."

"Hey, I don't need your help taking care of Loke!" Natsu yelled back, sticking his tongue out at her. "And you hit me earlier for no reason!"

"Because you were an idiot, and when there's time, I'll explain why!" She yelled at him, and narrowly missed a punch from Star, whose hands were now lit with his celestial power.

3.

"What did you do to Natsu!?" Kasai asked, approaching Loke for the first time since her battle with the twins. It took her a lot longer than she'd hoped to get rid of them, and their magic hadn't left her scratch free.

"I sent him to with Aquarius. I got tired of fighting him." The armored man stated, standing on a near piece of stone that was floating mid air.

"How about-" She started to speak, but was cut off mid sentence by the usual attacker, Star and Comet.

"Maybe another time?" Loke asked, laughing as she engaged in battle again, barely able to keep up with their speedy movements. "Who are you guys, anyway? You're not part of the Zodiac."

"Our power derives from the celestial world." Star said, now facing Leo as Comet continued his barrage of attacks. "We were told to play with Kasai and mess up whatever plans she had… but you look like fun, too." He giggled and ran at Leo, his hands blazing.

4.

Kasai somehow found herself in new surroundings, but was still fighting the same opponent. "You lost your important memories, but remembered how to fight."

"You're just an easy opponent." He replied, but as he spoke it got him just distracted enough for her to attack him with her blood magic again, stabbing him through the head and causing him to disappear.

"Oh? Who are you?"

The red head looked up to see Virgo the maiden standing there, wearing her new leather outfit with a whip at her side. "I'm Kasai. Lucy is supposed to be fighting you, isn't she?"

"Help!" Lucy yelled, and the red head looked down to see that there was a hole by Virgo's feet, and it seemed like the celestial wizard's voice was coming from it.

"You okay, Lucy?"

"No I'm not okay! Get me out of this hole!" She screamed, but Virgo stood square in between the hole and Kasai. "If I'm not crushed, I'm going to fall into a pit of spikes!"

"You will be punished!"

"Sorry, I'd normally like this game, but Lucy's not having any fun." Kasai said, dodging the whip and running forward, landing her fist square on the maiden's face.

"Miss me?" A familiar voice asked, and hit her again, causing her to slam into a nearby wall and disappear into another zodiac's battle field.

"How are you making us jump from place to place?!" Kasai asked, doing a flip to avoid a particularly powerful attack. The force of it caused a shockwave that furthered the distance she flew, and when her feet met the ground, skid several feet before she came to a stop. "And why are you attacking me, anyway?"

"Kiken told us to have fun with you, and mess up whatever your plans are. We're just following orders!" Star told her, appearing out of the dust and heading straight for her.

She cast a mud magic spell beneath her to try and grab his feet, but midspell got hit by his twin brother, appearing seemingly out of nowhere and disrupting her attack. When she got the chance to take in her surroundings, it appeared to be a broken down amusement park, but she had no idea which zodiac it was for or where they were.

5.

 _All of this scene changing is making my head spin._ Kasai thought to herself as she found herself sliding across an icy floor on her side, the sight of Gray dancing completely catching her off guard and allowing her enemy to land another attack.

When her eyes opened she was in a new place, a desert, falling and landing flat on her back, unable to block another attack.

What made her opponents so difficult was that not only did they reappear when they took her out, only a 5 second delay between reappearing, but they had two different attacks they were alternating with: one was celestial power, while the other diffused her magic and made it useless. When they landed direct blows it neutralized her blood magic and made temporarily rendered her defenseless.

Every time she tried to trap them, they'd cancel her magic or team up on her, and then transport her to another setting. To make matters worse, they were better at hand-to-hand combat than she was, and even without memory their combo attacks were perfectly in sync.

"Giving up already, little sister?" They both asked, leaning against each other in their new pose only a few yards away from her.

"I didn't think she'd be so easy to beat, did you?"

"No, she's pretty weak."

"Kiken made her out to be this powerful wizard." They spoke together, watching the red head lay there and catch her breath.

"Do you know what Kiken did to you? Did he tell you?" She asked, looking up at them, her eyes suddenly soft.

"What does it matter?" They asked in unison.

"You don't care that he slaughtered, tortured, and defiled the corpses of your friends and loved ones?" She asked.

"Why the hell should we believe you?" Star asked.

"And we don't even remember them, anyway. Why the hell should we care?"

"In that case, I'll just have to fight you 'Natsu style'… and _beat_ the memories back into you." She said, and rolled onto her hands, pushing herself back onto her feet. Kasai faced her opponents, in her fighting stance, and readied herself to fight again. "I'm not going to let Kiken keep your souls, even if it means fighting you. I'm done letting my friends be hurt by him!"

"Bold words for such a decrepit hag." They said, running at her.

6.

"What the hell happened to you?" Gray asked, surprised at the sudden appearance of Kasai, who crash landed on the dance floor from the ceiling.

"That." She said, rolling to the side in order to avoid another hit, simultaneously throwing her blood magic at his head to neutralize him for a few seconds. "Nice dancing earlier, by the way."

"You saw that!?" Gray asked, instantly blushing and freaking out.

"I've been jumping around to all of the Zodiacs like crazy. You wouldn't believe the headache I have." As soon as the other twin appeared, she instantly hit him with her blood magic, trying to regain her strength. "I'm getting pretty tired fighting these guys."

"Didn't you just take them out?" He asked, jumping when one of them appeared and she took him out like before.

"They're going to catch on to this pretty quick. It takes them 5 seconds to come back, and every time I do this, they go back to their initial state with no injuries and magic fully replenished. Their combination of powerful celestial magic and neutralizing magic is hard to keep up with."

"Tell me how I can help." He said, watching as she spun and attacked both of the twins at the same time, who had appeared behind her so quickly he didn't even see them.

"Get to the others and help them fight. Once this is all over and the Celestial King comes back, he can fix everything. In the mean time, I'm the only one that can keep up with them."

"Is that so?" Comet asked near her, too fast for her to dodge and sending her hurtling into another fighting zone. Gray, barely able to keep up with watching the fight nonetheless join it, did as she said and tried to find the others.

"Why do you guys like fighting me?" She suddenly asked, landing in a quaint park filled with fall trees.

"Because you're fun!" They answered together.

"How about we make it more fun, by adding some rules?" She asked, hoping that she could trick them into a non-magic fight.

"Nah, we like it like this." They said together, dodging her mud attack but getting hit by her fire attack, causing them to fall back and disappear.

"Oh come on, your bodies can't be _that_ weak." She grumbled, hating to have to restart the battle again so quickly. The longer they kept from disappearing, the more tired they got and the easier it was for her, but at this rate there was no end. "If only I had some fire…"

A lightbulb clicked on in her head.

"Fire." She repeated. "I may not be able to absorb your celestial magic…" The dragonslayer spoke, grabbing both of their ankles as they tried to kick her, and pulling them forward fast enough to catch them off balance. "But even if your spirits, these are bodies, and you have blood." She said, and managed to bite down on one of their necks while the other hand kept him still long enough for her tree magic to wrap around him.

"What the hell are you doing?"

 _I don't usually drink blood, since it freaks people out, but it_ _ **is**_ _my element, and just like fire it'll work in a pinch._

"Let go… of…" Comet spoke, losing his energy and becoming limp in the tree that had wrapped around him. He was weak, but barely strong enough to not disappear and reappear again.

"Your turn." She said; an evil smile on her face, blood dripping from the corners of her mouth, as she turned and drained the other twin's blood.

"This… isn't… fun…" They both muttered, too weak to do anything but just lay there, caught in her trap.

The red head jumped back, feeling fully energized, and wiped the blood from her face. "Serves you right." She said, sticking her tongue out at them and pulling her eyelid down.

 _Man, it's been forever since I've tasted blood… it's almost better than fire… My blood magic is more powerful than its been since training._

"Now… where did the others wander off to…"

Suddenly she gripped her stomach, a strange emptiness filling her where the blood had been, and a soft tap met her nose.

"Boop!" Star said, both of the twins appearing in front of her again, the blood she had taken from them somehow gone from her body. For whatever reason she could take the magic of resurrected puppets like them, but not their blood. Just like their bodies, the blood had disappeared back into the other dimension as soon as they had vanished.

"You guys are making it really difficult for me to like you."

"Don't be like that, little sister!" They chorused, forming one of their poses again. "That was a clever attempt to disable us! We're just too strong for you!"

7.

"Eeeh? Who are you, piri?" A child with blue hair asked, looking up at the new intruders. Next to him his sister stood, an equally puzzled look on her face, watching the red headed woman be pinned down by a man almost twice her size.

"Don't mind us, we're just decapitating her." A man, looking identical to the other one, spoke as he appeared with a giant axe over his shoulder. "Blood is easy to clean off of wooden floors, right?"

"What the hell are you doing, losing to those freaks?" A little squirrel asked, and Kasai looked at him, a blank expression her face. "What kind of Fairy Tail wizard are you?"

"Gajeel? Why are you a squirrel?" She asked, recognizing his little black tuft of hair sticking out of his head. Even though his body and voice had changed, she still recognized it.

"Shut up!" He squeaked at her.

"You should keep that look. Levy would love cuddling with you now."

"You're about to get your head chopped off and you're making fun of _me_!?"

"You're a freaking squirrel, of course I am!" She laughed, and just before the giant axe could slice down on her neck, she used her blood magic to stop it a foot from her flesh. "You really need to get me that camera you promised me!"

"Like hell I am!"

8.

"You're good with weaponry, too! So much fun!" They both yelled together, now using swords and switching between a variety of different weapons.

Kasai used her blood to form her own weapons, but had the advantage of being able to change their shape and size at will. Unfortunately, they could power their weapons with their magic, which made some attacks neutralize her blood magic, causing it to liquefy and splatter.

Suddenly, a new person entered the fight and pushed Comet away as he tried to attack her using a sword. Kasai found herself back to back with the new fighter. "Need some help?" Erza asked.

"Ooh, another toy?" One of the twins asked.

"So much fun!" The other said, running forward in unison with his brother. Erza mirrored each other's movements using their back contact, causing the twins to fall on either side of them.

"I'm surprised you're still fighting these guys. They must be powerful." Erza commented, watching the twins easily spin and jumping back to their feet.

"Every time I take them out, they reappear fully healed and magic restored. It takes 5 seconds for them to reappear. They also change weapons almost every time they disappear." She explained, taking both of them out with her blood magic when they were mid attack, catching them off guard and allowing a few seconds for her to talk to Erza.

"I take it that you've tried immobilizing them."

"Yes. They keep bouncing me around to all the different Zodiac worlds whenever I try, making me disoriented and have to change my tactic. I managed to immobilize them once with my tree magic, but they didn't stay put for very long. Not to mention the stomachache that followed…"

"I see." She said, blocking against a staff that almost hit her head, and forcing her opponent back. Another one appeared, fast and close, almost hitting her but gaining the same result as his brother. "They're fast."

"I'm getting tired of fighting these guys. They have a spell that neutralizes magic, which complicates it further."

"Your movements have become sluggish."

"That's what we've been telling her!" The twins spoke, and managed to land a hit on her, using their neutralizing magic to get around her blood magic. Kasai fell to the ground, rolling back into her feet and dodging another attack at her.

Erza leapt forward and managed to slice them, causing them to disappear. "Since you've been bouncing from one world to another, I take that you've seen the others?"

"A few of them. Lucy and Gajeel were in pretty bad places when I saw them last. Levy and Gray had defeated their opponent, Kana was close to finishing hers. I don't know about the rest."

9.

"I was the first one here, so I must've been the first to shut a spirit's gate! I'm manly!" Elfman yelled, pumped up after fighting the Bull celestial spirit.

"That's a good little brother!" Mirajane cheered, clapping her hands together for her sibling.

"I've finally beaten Erza at something, Big Sis!"

"Has anyone seen Kasai recently?" Erza asked them. "I just saw her, but then she disappeared when the twins attacked her again."

"Not recently. She was getting pretty beat up last I saw her." Gray commented.

"She was about to get her head chopped off when I saw her." Gajeel commented.

"Her cloak fell off when she was in the Ram's world…" Levy spoke, holding up the tattered and dirty looking cloak in her hands.

"You must've seen her after I saw her, then." Gajeel commented.

"She said the only way we can help her is to get the Spirit King back. He'll be able to sever whatever control Kiken has over them." Gray told them, and then fell back in surprise when the red head in question crashed into him, knocking him over and then rolling a few feet away.

She was on her feet again in the blink of an eye, ready to block or dodge whatever attack was headed her way, but nothing came.

The others stared at her, wondering what she was waiting for. After a few seconds of standing there, she looked at the others and noticed that the group was back together. "Did you guys take out your celestial spirits?" She asked, relaxing a bit and standing upright.

"You look like shit." Gajeel said, commenting on the torn, bloodied, and dirtied clothes she wore.

"Thanks, squirrel boy." She said, not missing a beat and smirking as he growled angrily at her.

"What happened to the guys you were fighting?" Erza asked, gaining her attention.

"I don't know. How did you guys get here?"

"We suddenly appeared here after we defeated our opponent." Mirajane answered.

"I'm guessing that whatever made you guys come here managed to transport me here without them." Kasai said, and collapsed onto her butt, resting for the first time since she got there. She put her hand over her shoulder, finally able to heal it properly. "I think I'm ready for another vacation."

"Lucy, Wendy, Natsu, Happy, and Carla haven't arrived yet." Erza told her.

"Are the Princess and Arcadios okay?"

"They seem to have gone elsewhere."

"Sister," An all too familiar voice spoke in her ear, about to stab her in the back but getting caught off guard when she reached behind her and pulled his head forward. Her teeth latched onto his neck, just long enough to get a taste of his blood, and then she shoved him backwards. When the other one appeared, they both flew into the wall with a flick of her wrist.

She used her blood magic to keep them against the wall, but a different spell than her usual one. Although she didn't like using the technique, when she drank another person's blood, it gave her control over it. "Give me a second, will ya?"

"Did you just bite him?!" Juvia yelled, the blood smeared on her chin causing everyone's eyes to widen.

"I'm a blood dragonslayer. Just like fire, when I eat my element, it gives me strength."

"This won't last for long, ya know!" The twins sang, and she closed their windpipes.

"So you're a vampire?" Gray asked, and she shrugged.

"Sure, why not." She said with a sigh.

10.

"Oh, hey Natsu, how's it going?" Kasai asked, pinned down by Comet while he raised his sword over his head to stab her. Tired, and already a plan in her head to get out of the situation, she lay there looking at the group of wizards as if nothing was wrong.

"Look out!"

"Sky dragon roar!" Wendy yelled, causing the twin to fly off her and disappear after hitting a rock. Kasai sat up, rubbing the back of her head as Natsu walked up to her and crouched down to her eye level.

"You idiot! Why'd you just lay there like that while he was about to kill you!?"

"Cuz I'm tired and low on magic." She whined, criss-crossing her legs. "And you're not looking too good either, hot stuff." The red head said, reaching her hand out and touching his burning forehead. He was sweating, had weird bumps on him, and looked paler than normal. He laughed awkwardly. "You ate a celestial wizard's magic, didn't you? I'm guessing Loki's?"

"Eeh?! How did you know?!" Happy and Natsu asked, surprised that she guessed it.

"Because I tried it too, but I stopped before I got sick." She said pointedly, causing him to frown and look at the ground. The pink-haired man held his head as if it was in pain. "I replenished a good chunk of my magic since we fought those dragons, but not enough to keep fighting Comet and Star for this long. I'm screwed if I can't find a decent magic source soon…. Whose voice is that?" Kasai asked, suddenly realizing that a woman's voice was singing in the distance. "And why is she singing about a king?"

"You humans are so small." A huge snake asked, causing the red head to turn and look at her.

"No, you're just too big!" Natsu yelled back at her, standing up quickly but then falling to the ground again.

Kasai used a mirror spell to deflect the beam of energy that was sent towards them, causing a hill in the distance to explode and shatter.

"What are you guys doing on the ground?" Arcadios asked, walking up to them clad in armor and the Princess behind her.

"Natsu has food poisoning, and I'm resting until Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee return." Kasai answered, not bothering to stand up. "Did either of you catch that snake lady singing about the king?"

"Yeah, I did. I was just going to ask her about it." The princess said, stepping up and facing the giant monster. "'All for the king's sake'…. I assume the 'king' it speaks of is the Celestial Spirit King?" She asked, causing Ophichus to pause and stare at the woman. "'All for the king's sake'… These events weren't precipitated by the spirits' pure wishes, but rather… the Celestial Spirit King."

"Are you fucking serious?" Kasai blurted, groaning as she stood up. "Oi, let's find him and kick his ass already."

"Calm down, we need to get answers from this spirit before running off again." Arcadios told her, towering over her and glaring.

"All right, I'm fired up now! Let's beat up the Spirit King guy!" Natsu yelled as he stood up, already seeming to feel better.

"Do you honestly think you can do that, humans!?" Ophiuchus asked, her large body moving and slithering beneath her. As she rose, she revealed several crystals acting as cameras, which showed the battles happening with Yukino and Lucy. Seeing Lucy in pain, Natsu jumped forward with his fire blazing, Kasai close behind.

"I'm gonna thrash this lousy snake before I deal with ol' Mustache Man!" Natsu yelled.

"I told you before… you humans won't be interfering." The snake woman said as she launched her elongated tongue at them, only to be sliced apart by Kasai's blood magic and punched by Natsu, whose fire magic cut out just before and left the attack weak. Noticing the snake's belly looked odd, Kasai made a gamble by attacking it with her fire magic.

The magic inside sent a shockwave through her, sending her flying back and hitting Natsu, who managed to catch her and barely keep from falling over.

"Look, the crystals are moving!" Happy pointed out, and everyone looked up to see them shifting towards one another in the air.

Natsu set Kasai back on her feet, and as the crystals came together, announced that he wanted to fight, too. He sent a pillar of his dark/fire hybrid magic into the air, which consumed the crystal.

Kasai watched, flinching at the magical energy he was giving off, knowing that it was taking a considerable amount of energy to do so.

After a few seconds Lucy and Yukino appeared nearby, and the red head had to catch Natsu before he fell from exhaustion.

She couldn't sense the dark magic inside him anymore, and smiled. "Feel better?"

"Ja." The dragonslayer replied, letting her push him back onto his feet.

11.

The snake woman used her flute to attack Natsu and Happy.

They didn't seem to be figuring it out very quickly, and not having enough time to explain it to them, began running up the massive snake's back to try and reach the woman controlling it. Given her lack of magic at that point, she couldn't afford to waste any time and hoped that disabling the snake charmer's weapon would give Natsu a big enough window to attack.

Hopefully.

Her eyes briefly locked eyes with Natsu's, and he seemed to understand what she was doing, but with him she never knew. Sometimes he managed to come off as a mature, knowledgeable man, other times he was just good at acting like he knew what was going on.

Her feet jumped and swiftly navigated across the scales, managing to not get caught beneath the giant plates. The snake charmer was so focused on Natsu, she didn't even know she was headed her way.

When she finally reached the top of the snake, she lunged towards her, full speed and timed perfectly with Natsu, when an all too familiar body appeared in front of Ophiccius like a brick wall. "You didn't think I was gone, did you?" He asked, pulling the blade up into Kasai's stomach.

It was a magic neutralizing weapon. Pain spread through her abdomen and blood spilled uselessly to the ground.

Natsu was headed towards the snake charmer. If she didn't do something, all of this would have been for nothing.

Kasai reached her arm around the large spirit and grabbed Ophiccius by the throat, preventing her from blowing into the odd-shaped flute. Comet didn't even realize what she was doing, thinking that she was just leaning against him from the blood loss.

When Natsu finally struck the snake charmer, the force of it caused Comet to disappear and for Kasai to go flying through the air unconscious.

"Happy, drop me and go after Kasai!" Natsu instructed him, still close enough to the snake to land on it and jump elsewhere.

"Aye sir!" Happy yelled, and flew as fast as he could towards the falling red head. Manuevering and dodging around falling debris from the various magical attacks that had transpired, he finally reached her, worried when he realized that she was unconscious. "Wendy!"

The flying Exceed guided the heavy human towards the little girl, trying to drop her gently to the ground for Wendy to inspect her.

"She's hurt!" The wizard gasped, and put her hands over the woman in attempt to ascertain her wounds. "None of her healing spells are working. I don't sense any magic from her at all!"

"How is that possible?" Carla asked, looking up at her friend in concern.

"Is she going to be okay!?" Happy asked, now noticing the bloody wound in her abdomen.

"I'll do my best!" Wendy stated, and put her hands over the wound, trying to heal it as quickly as possible. After a moment of her hands glowing above her friend, she gasped and began doing chest compressions.

"Oi, is she okay?!" Natsu asked as he ran towards them, noticing everyone's panicked expressions.

Wendy opened her mouth and breathed into Kasai's, using her wind magic to help get her breathing again, and then went back to chest compressions. "Kasai's healing magic isn't working!" Happy said, tears in his eyes as he looked up at his friend.

"Her heart stopped, and she's lost too much blood!" Wendy said, beginning to panic as she continued the chest compressions. "Natsu, what are you doing?!" She asked, everyone watching in horror as the pink-haired wizard attacked the unconscious woman with his fire magic, targeting her face.

"Your girlfriend is dying so you throw fire at her!?" Carla screeched, watching as the man knelt down and grabbed the back of Kasai's head, tilting it towards him and opening her mouth slightly.

He breathed fire into her, unrelenting and fire so intense that his friends had to step back in order to not be burned.

Suddenly, the flames disappeared, and Kasai was planting a kiss on Natsu's lips, taking as much fire as he could give her.

When the supply of fire stopped, they separated and Natsu gently lay her head back on the ground. Spell circles appeared around her body, now having enough magical energy to heal her. "Thanks, Natsu."

"I'm so confused." Happy said, crying, and falling back on his butt.

"Same." Wendy and Carla said, in similar positions.

"Hey, are you guys okay!?" Lucy asked as she and the others approached them, the other group of powerful wizards appearing as well.

"Yeah, we're fine." Natsu told her, smiling cheekily.

"Natsu, what did you do to bring her back to life?" Wendy asked. "She wasn't breathing, lost too much blood, and her heart had stopped."

"Eh? Oh, she just needed some magic to power her spells. She told me once that if she ever bled out like this, to throw my fire magic at her until she sucked it up." He said nonchalantly, as if it was nothing.

"So you literally brought her back to life by throwing fire at her!?" Happy exclaimed, the conversation confusing the other wizards as they approached.

"Sorry to scare you guys. Comet and Star have magic to drain or neutralize my own, so when he stabbed me and got so close, my magic was entirely drained." Kasai explained, sitting up despite her injuries. After so many 'lethal' injuries over the years, her pain tolerance had gotten so high she barely noticed it.

"What happened?" Gray asked, approaching the group.

"After we defeated Ophiccius, Kasai died and Natsu brought her back to life!" Happy explained, causing the wizards to look at him skeptically.

"I'm actually surprised it worked… I got the idea from a hallucination I once had." Kasai said, causing Natsu to gasp and start yelling at her in disbelief.

"WHAT!? You didn't know if it would work or not!?"

"Yeah. It was dumb luck that it did."

"You mean I could have just kissed a dead body!?"

"Well… kinda… Since I was technically dead, you already have." She explained, causing him to start gagging.

"As interesting as this is, we've got more important things to discuss." Erza interrupted, bringing the group's attention back to together in order to figure out their next move. "The celestial spirits…"

After exchanging information and talking about what to do next, the celestial clock appeared and gave them clothes in order to enter the celestial spirit realm. "I'm not wearing this." Kasai stated, holding up the skimpy top that went with her orange pants.

"Don't be a baby. No one else is complaining." Gajeel told her, noticing the also skimpy outfits on some of the other women.

"Then you wear it. If you don't care, then I'll trade you." She said, eyeing his black wife beater shirt and jacket that went with it.

"I'll trade you this shirt for yours. I don't care if my stomach shows." He said, taking her tube top and giving her the black wife beater shirt she'd been eyeing. Luckily the clock spirit had extra bandages that she could use, in order to bandage up her midsection. Although her healing spells had activated, it would still take some time for her to heal, and she knew that she would likely be useless from then on.

"How are you feeling?" Wendy asked her, having barely left her side since her 'death'. The young girl had never had someone die under her care, nor been brought back to life for that matter, so she was extra anxious and curious about the older wizard.

"I'm healing, but not quickly enough to be of any use for the rest of the journey. Natsu gave me enough magic to stay alive, but offensive spells are out of the question."

"Don't worry about it, we got this." Natsu told her, patting her on the back.

"What happened to Come and Star?" Erza asked, stepping forward clad in her new outfit.

"They stopped appearing when I got here, for some reason. Comet attacked me when I was going after Ophicius, but I haven't seen either of them since."

12.

"Hey, where's everyone that turned into a constellation?" Natsu asked, looking around for their friends. They had just defeated the last enemy and returned the celestial world to its former glory, but only Lucy, Erza, Gajeel, and Gray were standing near him.

"Right here!" Levy yelled from nearby, and they all turned to see their friends running towards them, smiles on their faces. They joked about the experience, pleasant for some and others not so much.

Natsu sat there, sore from the battle, but looking forward to impressing Kasai with details about the battle. She loved hearing about his battles and learning about different forms of magic that he encountered, especially when he talked about the effects of eating various magics, so he and his rumbling stomach had plenty to tell her. Since they'd been fighting on and off all day, he also wanted to make it up to her somehow, maybe suggestion another vacation.

He sat there for a moment, watching the group rejoin them and begin pairing off into conversations, when he noticed that Kasai wasn't with them. He sat there patiently, foot tapping, when he finally spoke up. "Oi, wasn't Kasai turned into a constellation?" He asked Lucy, who was standing closest to him.

"I thought I saw her get hit by the beam, but I don't remember seeing her constellation with the others. Everything was happening so fast, I couldn't keep track of her." The blond admitted, now looking around the group for the red head.

"Oi, has anyone seen Kasai?!" The wizard asked, now standing up and flinching at his injuries.

"You mean she's not with you guys?" Juvia asked, causing the nervous feeling in Natsu's chest to worsen.

"Maybe she's with the other celestial spirits?" Wendy suggested. "Her magic is so strange, maybe instead of turning into a constellation, it sent her to the other spirits?"

"Let's go ask them." Gray said, noticing the group of celestial spirits in the distance, and not surprised when Natsu started running at them full speed.

"My head is killing me…" Star spoke, both of the twins holding their heads in pain.

"Something happened that allowed Kiken to take control of your spirits for a period of time…" The Celestial King spoke, causing them both to look up at him in alarm.

"I remember bits and pieces… but it's a blur…" Comet spoke, and they looked up suddenly to see a pink and red fireball hurtling towards them, yelling something about Kasai.

"Take it easy, Natsu," Loke spoke, smiling awkwardly at the fired up dragonslayer. When his brown eyes locked with the twins, their muscles tensed, confused by the hateful stare in his eyes.

"Where's Kasai!? What did you guys do to her?!"

"Natsu, calm down," Erza said, grabbing him by the shoulder before he could start pummeling them with his fists. "They've returned to their normal selves, along with the others."

"What happened to Kasai?" The twins asked in unison, both of them alarmed at the prospect of their best friend being in trouble. They had vague memories of fighting her, but like smoke they were slipping away from their memory.

"When we were trying to save you guys, you two kept attacking her. In our last battle, she seems to have disappeared." Erza explained, causing Star to gasp.

"I have a memory of taking her somewhere- just before this red beam hit her, I grabbed her." He said, still holding his head and trying to remember more of what happened. "I took her somewhere… it's all so fuzzy…"

"Where did you take her?!" Natsu yelled, still being held back by Erza.

"We were instructed to capture her, and I remember thinking that we needed to drain her magic first." Comet said.

"Something moving… I think I transported her to a wagon with people inside. I can't remember any more details…"

"We'll do everything we can to find her." Comet said, determined.

"Maybe you'll remember more if I hit it out of you!" Natsu yelled, pushing against the grip on his shoulder with no success.

"Natsu, stop it. Kasai is a powerful wizard and can take care of herself."

"She literally died just before the battle, and could barely stand afterwards. How the hell do you think she is going to defend herself, huh!?" He yelled, pissed off and still tired from the constant barrage of battles since his return from the beach.


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

 _A random adventure!_

"Hey Bickslow, any interest doing a job with me?" Kasai asked, causing the strange man to turn and face her. His team mates looked at her in surprise as well, having never had another member of fairy tail invite them on a job. Or, at least, it had been several years since they had. They all joined Laxus towards the beginning of their careers at Fairy Tail, and never really cared to go on missions with other members of Fairy Tails unless it involved the rest of the group.

"Why do you want to go with me of all people?" He asked, looking at her skeptically through his eye guard.

The red head grinned and pulled out a flyer that had been in her hand. "This job involves going to a graveyard and hunting down ghosts. Or something like that, it's phrased weird…." She rambled, looking at the flyer herself and referring to the small nearly incomprehensible babble at the bottom of the page. "But anyway, I heard you can see souls, so you're the likely choice in a partner."

"How long would the mission take?" The seith mage asked, hesitant in leaving his group, but also interested in the job. He did so many jobs with his group that didn't allow him to use his magic very much, so it would be a nice change to do something that he could excel at.

"A week at most. Couple days at least." She said, and the wizard turned and looked at his team.

"Do we have any plans the next few days? Would you guys be okay with me going?" He asked, twisting his torso to look at them for an answer.

"No, we've got nothing planned. You should go." Evergreen told him, smiling encouragingly.

"We'll be fine here. Maybe we'll go and do some jobs with other Fairy Tail members, too. It could be a good learning experience." Fried told him awkwardly, visibly worried but trying to hide it.

"You should do a mission with Levy, Fried. You two would have a lot to talk about." Kasai suggested, personally being interested in doing a mission with him on another day, mostly to pick his brain about his enchantments.

"Aaaall right! When do we leave!?" Bickslow asked excitedly, causing the red head to chuckle at his enthusiasm.

1.

"Why don't you get motion sick like the other dragonslayers?" Bickslow asked from the opposite seat, eyeing the strange woman in curiosity. Although he'd seen her with Natsu and heard stories about her strength, he had never actually interacted with her much before. She asked other wizards to go on missions with her all the time, but she'd never approached the Thunder Legion, and Bickslow could only assume that was because she hadn't noticed them or never had the right opportunity to ask.

"I have a lot of healing and blood magic abilities which keep me from getting motion sick. Instead, I'm extremely sensitive to changes in my magic that can make me pretty useless." She said honestly, going into more detail about her magic than he thought she would. He'd heard that she was secretive, but she appeared very forthcoming thus far.

"Why didn't you ask Natsu to join us?"

"I love Natsu, but it gets tiresome to deal with the damage he causes." She admitted, laughing awkwardly. "You're probably wondering why I asked you to join me on this mission?"

"You caught me." He said, chuckling. "Ever since a couple years ago, when Laxus attacked Fairy Tail and got kicked out, people don't really like hanging out with me or the rest of Thunder Legion."

"People don't really like hanging around me either, nowadays." She said, and glanced out the window. "I did ask you to join me because of your skill set, but I'll admit that I have other reasons for inviting you."

"Now we're talking." He said, sticking his tongue out at her, showing her his Fairy Tail insignia.

"I'm not sure how much you know about Kiken, the leader of the Blood Guild…" She started to speak. "But he's been experimenting with resurrection magics the past few years, and combining them with celestial magic."

"I doubt his magic is like anything with mine." He told her, making one of his 'babies' fly out and pet him. "These guys were bound willingly, and I summoned them over their graves, but I can only summon and control them in puppets. I can't resurrect their entire bodies."

"I figured as much." She said simply, smiling kindly at his confused expression. "And I would enjoy learning more about your magic, but I should clarify about why I asked you to join me…. You see, Kiken sends the spirits of my friends and family to attack me on a semi-regular basis. If we happen across them, I'd appreciate it if you could double check whether their souls are inside those bodies. If at all possible, control their soul and put them in a puppet until I've managed to sever their bonds with Kiken."

"One of them is your mom, right? The Fire Dragonslayer?" He asked, and she nodded.

"Yeah."

"I can't make any promises, but I'll try." He said, and she smiled.

"Thank you." She said, bowing her head.

2.

"I want you to stay in my hotel for the night to determine if it's haunted or not." A small man asked, maybe an inch taller than their Guild Master, as he stood on a table in the dining hall. "Tonight, I'm giving my staff the night off, and having no guests for the night. You'll have the entire hotel to explore and if you find a ghost, find out as much as you can about it, so that I can advertise. If it's not haunted, I can advertise as a ghost free hotel!"

"Seems straight forward enough." Kasai said, shrugging. "The flyer mentioned a graveyard, though?"

"I had my granddaughter write it for me…" He whispered quietly, discretely nodding his head towards a young girl by the entrance of the room. She looked only 12 years old, decked out in an adorable frilly pink dress and curly blond hair.

"Cool," Bickslow said, grinning. "Where's our rooms?"

"You two can have the honeymoon suit- it's got two queen-sized beds in it."

"When will the hotel be empty?" Kasai asked, noticing that the hotel already seemed pretty empty.

"Everyone will be gone by 7 PM tonight. 3 hours from now."

"So we'll unpack, do a little research and start ghost hunting." Bickslow stated, and Kasai nodded with a grin.

"Sounds good."

3.

"Does Natsu ever get jealous of you going on missions with guys? I remember him getting pretty worked up over the treasure game you used to play." He asked, sitting in one of the lazyboy chairs and relaxing.

Kasai sat on her bed, criss-crossed, with her cloak draped over and covering most of her features. Her hair was slightly ruffled and wet, since she'd only been out of the shower for a short time. "He doesn't care, for the most part. Whenever he complains I remind him of his awkward encounters with Lucy."

He laughed, not expecting that answer. "Those two are pretty close."

"Yeah, but Lucy has that effect on a lot of people. She's just too adorable for her own good."

"You never worry about him cheating with her?"

"Nah, I know them both too well. They'd both feel too guilty." She answered easily. "You've been asking a lot about Natsu and I."

"I've found that girls like talking, especially about their boyfriends."

"I discovered that too when I was a bartender." She said, grinning. "Do you have any siblings?"

He chuckled. "I had two sisters growing up."

"Where are they now?"

"They died when I was 10… I was the middle child."

"What happened to them? If you don't mind me asking." She inquired, noticing the slump in his shoulders at mention of his siblings.

"It's alright… it's been a long time since it happened." He spoke, sitting forward and propping his upper body on his elbows. "They drowned in a boating accident. There was a storm that they weren't prepared for, and I found their boat the next morning on shore. I tried to summon their spirits to resurrect them, but failed, and messed up my eyes instead." He said, tapping his visor.

"I'm sorry about your sisters." She said sincerely, and watching him lean back again in his chair. "I know it's tough to lose family."

"It's alright… like I said, it happened a long time ago."

"You don't have to wear your visor, by the way. I'm immune to spells that are activated by eye contact."

"Is that so?" He asked, and removed his helmet, revealing his odd partially-shaved head and strange eyes. "Are you sure you _want_ to see this ugly mug of mine?"

"I think you look cool. I also don't think you should hide your face so much, but I'm sure that you have your reasons for doing so." She said, and he chuckled.

4.

"Should we split up?" Bickslow asked as they entered the dining hall, although now it was completely empty. It was 8 PM, and the last of the stragglers had just left, leaving them alone in the giant building.

"I suppose so. I'll start from the top and go down, search floor by floor, and after we've both searched the entire building go through it together. We can alternate start taking shifts after that so that one of us is searching the halls at all times."

"Sounds good. If you get scared, just give a holler."

"Same for you." She waved, and they separated.

For the first couple hours, the hotel was quiet. Nothing really happened as they wandered the halls, and at midnight, they decided to have a 'midnight snack' from the kitchen. The owner had given them free range access not only to the building, but to the food and master key to gain access to any room they wanted.

"Oooh, they have food already cooked. Do you like lasagna?" Kasai asked as she perused the fridge, when he appeared behind her and looked over her shoulder. He got unusually close just to look at the food, but she shrugged it off as his habit of doing missions with his Thunder Legion so often. They did seem awfully close, but his chest was practically pressing against her back, and his hand was on her hip.

"I think I'll go for the enchiladas." He said, and reached up to grab it. Swiftly he turned and went to remove the lid and put it in the microwave. The red head did the same, excited for her meal.

"I've heard good things about the food here." She commented, and then turned towards the closed door leading to the dining room, hearing a strange sound. "Did you hear that?"

"Eh?" He asked, looking up at her then looking at whatever she was staring at. "Right, you're a dragonslayer like Laxus. He has heightened senses, too."

"I hear foot steps." She said, and ran out of the kitchen, Bickslow not far behind. When she entered the dining room, she heard the footsteps down a different hallway, and ran towards the sound.

"I'm not seeing anything." He told her, trying to keep up as she ran down the various hallways and rooms, including several flights of stairs, and eventually stopping in front of a room door. "306." Bickslow spoke between breaths, his strange eyes straining against the dim light.

"If it were a person, I'd be smelling them. I don't detect any new smells." She said, sniffing the air. "It's not an animal, either."

"Well let's see if we can catch a look at this 'ghost', then." The male wizard said, reaching for his keys and getting ready to open the door.

"Be on the guard, in the unlikely event that it's a trap." She warned, and he nodded.

After opening the door, which creaked loudly as it swung open like a classic horror movie, they turned the light on and started searching the room. "This room looks ancient. It looks like room keeping hasn't been here in years."

"It smells old, too." She said, wrinkling her nose up in disgust.

"Look around, babies, and see if you find anything around here." Bickslow said, making his puppets rise up and disperse, checking the room along with the hallway for any clues.

Kasai looked down, feeling something brush against her leg, but found nothing. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Afraid of ghosts?" He asked, smirking at her.

"If I was, I wouldn't have chosen to go on this mission." She said, glaring at him. "This feeling, though… it reminds me of someone."

"Oh?"

"This little girl… she killed people and combined their souls with shadow magic."

"A little girl did that?" He asked.

"If I remember correctly, she was around 6 when I did the mission with her, so she'd be around… 14 years old, now? She was supposed to stay in prison, but escaped a few years ago."

"You think she's here?"

"I don't know… I've just got this weird feeling…" She explained, and they heard a loud bang down the hall, where one of his 'babies' had been exploring.

"Peppe!" Bickslow yelled, and the two wizards ran after the explosion, only to find nothing there. "Peppe!" The wizard yelled again, frantically looking around the charred hallway for his doll.

The room 306 closed suddenly, and another doll was trapped inside, along with an explosion.

"Keep your souls close, it sounds like whoever is here is targeting them." Kasai told him, and he nodded, commanding his spirits to return to him and go back into his back pack.

"I can't sense Pappa anymore…" He muttered, causing Kasai to look at him.

"It's possible that whatever is here is masking their presence. Try not to lose focus."

A knife suddenly appeared out of nowhere and flew at Kasai, grazing her cheek as she simply turned her head to dodge the attack. Several more kitchen knives flew at them, all of which they dodged, Bickslow doing a fancy spin and doing the splits mid air, pushing his feet against each wall of the hallway so that he was upside down. "Whoever is throwing knives at us has a black soul, like a poltergeist."

"A poltergeist?" She asked, looking at him in surprise. "You'd think the hotel owner would have known if there was a poltergeist here."

"Well, he's got a weird room that he hasn't done upkeep for in decades, and the spirit seems to be drawn towards it… it's possible that it only gets violent when people enter the room." He suggested, staring at the dark figure at the end of the hall.

"What a pain." She commented, dodging another knife. "Our only job is to find the ghost and gather intel, so we technically don't have to fight it or really do anything else."

"No, we need to get my babies back, wherever the bitch is hiding them." He said, glaring at the spirit.

"Oi, angry spirit person, where did you take Bickslow's spirits?" She directly asked the spirit, causing Bickslow to scoff at her.

"Typical woman asking for directions."

"I've absorbed them." The spirit answered, causing both of them to look at it in surprise.


	31. Chapter 31

**Author's Note:** And, alas, this is the end of this story! Thanks for reading all of this, and I hope you have a lovely day! Thank you all for the reviews, faves, and follows!

I'm pretty sure this is the only and last Natsu story I've written, but if you want to read more Fairy Tail stories, I have an ongoing Bickslow one that's over 1,000 pages, and I update that about once a month (the chapters are much longer than this story's was). I'm undecided about whether I'll post all the other Bickslow stories I've written, since I have some lengthy Boku no Hero stories and Star Trek ones (my Star Trek ones were so much fun to write, but for a lot of reasons, I might not post those).

If you want to follow me on other social media, my username is KFutterwacken. I don't do fanfic stuff on any other account, but if you're interested in checking out my art, I do lots of watercolor, digital art, etc.

Peace!

 **Chapter 31**

 _Vampire Kasai!_

"His name is 'Kemo-Kemo'?" Kasai asked, looking at the green and black little creature that Natsu held.

"Yeah! His egg dropped from the sky, and Happy and I hatched it!" Natsu replied happily, clutching the little furry creature in his arms.

"He is pretty cute…" She said, poking its belly and causing it to burp fire at her. "Aw, he's a little fiery guy, isn't he?" She said, and started scratching behind its ear, causing it to chirp happily at her.

"You're not bothered by this at all?" Lucy asked, walking up to them.

"I wish that I had been there when you guys found this little guy, but no, I see nothing wrong with this. Happy has a little brother now."

"Aye!" Happy cheered, landing on her head and causing her to laugh.

"We _should_ figure out what he is, though." She said, and her boyfriend nodded.

"Of course! I've been asking around, but nobody knows what he is!" He exclaimed, exasperated.

"Well he's not a dog, that's for sure." The Guild Master spoke from nearby, getting their attention. Suddenly, a large frog creature entered the Guild Hall, approaching the old man to explain the 'student-exchange program' taking place.

1.

"I'm not wearing this dress. Can't I wear a suit like the guys?"

"No, no, you must wear a dress!"

"Kasai, you can have my suit, and I'll wear the dress!" Natsu offered, strangely excited by the idea of wearing the pretty dress that was being offered to her. It was purple, extremely sparkly, and had flowers on it.

"Okay." She said, trading with him, but causing the members of Pegasus to start yelling and chastising them. In the end, Kasai won in wearing a tux, but Natsu still had to wear one as well.

"Why are you so against wearing dresses?" Lucy asked, surprised at how well she pulled off the suit. Natsu didn't look half bad, either.

"Bad things happen when I wear skimpy dresses in public." She said with a shrug. "Last time, I was plastered all over magazines and accused of being gay."

"So you're wearing a mens suit to appear straight?" One of the Pegasus Guild members asked, causing her to glare.

"Well, if you'd let me wear the dress, we'd be perfect!" Natsu said, walking up to her and wrapping his arm behind her waist.

Later on, when they got to the lounge to socialize with the guests, Kasai and Happy were the only ones to do semi-decent. Given her experience as a bartender, she knew how to talk to people in this kind of setting, while Happy simply had to deliver drinks to the tables.

"Do you know anything about this little guy!?" Natsu asked every customer, causing the women to freak and get grossed out by the creature, not to mention his forwardness.

"What a creep," One of the girls at Kasai's table spoke, causing her to sigh. "I mean, that thing is so gross, and he's just carrying it around in here. Doesn't he know that dogs aren't allowed?"

"Don't be so harsh. He means well, he's just… energetic." Kasai told her, but she and the other women at her table crossed their arms.

"He's a creep." They said in unison. "And what kind of girl wears a suit? Those are for guys."

"Are you a cross-dresser?" The other asked.

Kasai was happy when they were asked to leave.

2.

"You finally get to wear that dress, Natsu." Kasai told the pink-haired man, who grinned at her and then spun in a circle.

"Ja! It's so much more airy than pants. Why don't you wear these more often?" He asked, continuing to spin in place and make Lucy frantically try to keep his skirt from flashing everyone. "I would have liked something a little more sparkly, though."

"Oi, oi, just get to serving drinks already." Millianna told him, shoving a platter of drinks into his hand and pointing at the table he was supposed to take it to. "You know, if anyone finds out that they're actually guys, we'll be ruined."

"We apologize in advance. We've already been kicked out of the last two Guilds." Kasai told her, grinning at the cat woman.

"Meow, you guys really are a rowdy bunch. Are you sure you don't want to join us? We won't make you wear anything girly or anything."

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm happy with Fairy Tail." The red head told her, watching as Natsu continued to make masculine gestures and Lucy panic and try to make him act more 'feminine'.

"You mean you're happy with Natsu." Millianna asked, and watched as the red head picked up Kemo-Kemo, a wide grin on her face.

"Not just Natsu," She told her. "The entire guild is my family. After my home village and temple was destroyed, I made Fairy Tail my home—so I have no intention of leaving it."

Just then, Gray ripped open his dress in rage and caused all of the customers to panic and run away, signaling the end of their stay at the Mermaid Heel Guild.

"Well, since your hot guild mates keep stripping like this, I can see why you want to stay." The cat woman told her, noticing the woman's cheeks flare pink.

"They are an attractive bunch…"


End file.
